Four days after the police arrested Debashish Dhar (27), from West Bengal, in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 24-year-old physiotherapist whose body was found strangulated and naked at her Vile Parle residence on December 6, Dhar has confessed to the crime.

During interrogation, it came to light that he failed in his rape attempt and killed her. After the murder, he inserted a hair comb in her private parts, causing severe injuries on the body.

On Tuesday, Dhar was brought to Mumbai by a police team from Midnapore district of West Bengal on transit remand.

According to the police, Dhar's medical reports show that he is mentally sound. The police also learnt that Dhar had a habit of roaming around in the area during free time, watching women. He was very thorough about the locality as he had been living there for the past 7-8 years.

On the day of the crime, Dhar had dinner with his friends at a hotel, after which he, as usual, roamed about the area. When he reached near the victim's residence, he found the door open and the victim sleeping on the mezzanine floor. Dhar entered the house and tried to get intimate with the victim. But she woke up.

"Dhar then smothered the victim's mouth with his hands and strangulated her with his hands. When the victim got unconscious, Dhar again strangulated her with a pair of jeans and he committed unnatural acts with the victim. After the crime, in a bid to destroy the evidence, he threw pile of books on her body and tried to set the victim ablaze," said Virendra Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone VIII).

"Dhar stayed in the city until the police visited the jewellery shop, located near the victim's house, where he was working. He then got scared and left the city and fled to his hometown. When the police team reached there, he had fled to a neighbouring village to escape the police. That made our suspicion strong," said inspector Mahadev Nimbalkar.

Initially, Dhar did not admit to the crime, but later he confessed it and told the sequence of events. The police have verified his claims and have recorded the statements of his friends, who were with him on December 5.

Eighteen police teams were formed to crack the case and over 500 people, including family members, relatives, neighbours, friends and one of the victim's close friends were grilled.

The police said that they are yet to get the DNA reports of Dhar, which they claim would be the most crucial evidence in court.