<p>A 24-year-old British woman was found murdered Saturday in a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar. A Dutch national who had also been living in the same houseboat has been arrested, police said.<br /><br />The Dutchman had fled the houseboat early Saturday morning, but police found him at south Kashmir's Qazigund town. <br /><br />"A general alert was sounded across the Valley for the arrest of De-wit Richard, who had left the houseboat in the wee hours Saturday. He was arrested at Qazigund," said Syed Afadul Mujtaba, deputy inspector general of police (DIG) central Kashmir range. <br />Qazigund in Anantnag district is about 80 km from Srinagar. </p>.<p>"He (Richard) had left all his belongs in the houseboat, and had fled with just his passport. He has been brought to Srinagar for further investigations," the police officer said. <br /><br />The owner of the "New Beauty" houseboat told IANS that the 24-year-old British woman victim had been staying in the houseboat for nearly two months. The Dutchman had only begun his stay on the boat two days back, in a room adjacent to the British tourist's. <br /><br />Abdul Rahim Shoda, owner of the houseboat, said he found the body of the woman with stab wounds in her room on the houseboat Saturday morning.<br /><br />"I immediately reported the matter to police," Shoda said. <br /><br />"To reach the bank of the Lake, he used a small shikara (boat) attached to the houseboat. The shikara had capsized some distance from the houseboat, but Richard must have managed to reach the bank," Shoda said.</p>.<p>Valley police chief Abdul Ghani Mir confirmed that the woman had been murdered.</p>.<p>"The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. Other forensic evidence is being collected to ascertain whether the victim was raped before murder," Mir said.<br /><br />The 18 sq km Dal Lake in Srinagar is dotted with over 1,000 houseboats. Along the lake's shoreline are many vast gardens that go back to the Mughal era. <br /><br />Last year, over a million tourists visited the Kashmir Valley; over 20,000 of them were foreigners. <br /><br />George Harrison of the Beatles famously lived in a houseboat and learnt to play the sitar from Pandit Ravi Shankar in the 1960s.</p>
<p>A 24-year-old British woman was found murdered Saturday in a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar. A Dutch national who had also been living in the same houseboat has been arrested, police said.<br /><br />The Dutchman had fled the houseboat early Saturday morning, but police found him at south Kashmir's Qazigund town. <br /><br />"A general alert was sounded across the Valley for the arrest of De-wit Richard, who had left the houseboat in the wee hours Saturday. He was arrested at Qazigund," said Syed Afadul Mujtaba, deputy inspector general of police (DIG) central Kashmir range. <br />Qazigund in Anantnag district is about 80 km from Srinagar. </p>.<p>"He (Richard) had left all his belongs in the houseboat, and had fled with just his passport. He has been brought to Srinagar for further investigations," the police officer said. <br /><br />The owner of the "New Beauty" houseboat told IANS that the 24-year-old British woman victim had been staying in the houseboat for nearly two months. The Dutchman had only begun his stay on the boat two days back, in a room adjacent to the British tourist's. <br /><br />Abdul Rahim Shoda, owner of the houseboat, said he found the body of the woman with stab wounds in her room on the houseboat Saturday morning.<br /><br />"I immediately reported the matter to police," Shoda said. <br /><br />"To reach the bank of the Lake, he used a small shikara (boat) attached to the houseboat. The shikara had capsized some distance from the houseboat, but Richard must have managed to reach the bank," Shoda said.</p>.<p>Valley police chief Abdul Ghani Mir confirmed that the woman had been murdered.</p>.<p>"The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. Other forensic evidence is being collected to ascertain whether the victim was raped before murder," Mir said.<br /><br />The 18 sq km Dal Lake in Srinagar is dotted with over 1,000 houseboats. Along the lake's shoreline are many vast gardens that go back to the Mughal era. <br /><br />Last year, over a million tourists visited the Kashmir Valley; over 20,000 of them were foreigners. <br /><br />George Harrison of the Beatles famously lived in a houseboat and learnt to play the sitar from Pandit Ravi Shankar in the 1960s.</p>