A 74-year-old grandmother was raped and robbed of her jewellery in her house in Maran, Pahang and the police have arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with the case.

Pahang CID chief Ahmad Noordin Ahmad Mustafa said the incident occurred at about 7am when the victim was asleep. She was alone in the house as her son and daughter-in-law had left for work.

After gaining entry into the house, he said the assailant pounced on the sleeping woman and threatened to strangle her if she did not give him any money.

When the victim told him that she had no money, the suspect bound her hands and relieved her of two gold rings and her earrings valued at about RM400.

"The suspect then raped the grandmother before fleeing," Ahmad Noordin was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

The woman and her son later lodged a police report on the incident.

The victim, who sustained injuries on her face around the lip area when struggling with the suspect, was taken to Hospital Mentakab for a medical check-up and treatment

Ahmad Nordin said police arrested the suspect at 12.15pm yesterday to facilitate investigations.

'Lock-up deaths'

In an unrelated development, Perak deputy police chief Kamalul Azmi Derus assured the public that any 'lock-up deaths' reported in the state would be swiftly investigated.

He said the police should complete their investigations of such cases, despite being rare in the state, within one month apart from holding inquests to facilitate the probe.

Kamalul said this was to dispel doubts and dissatisfaction which could arise from families of dead detainees if they were not informed of the deaths or the police were late in solving the cases.

"Death of detainees in police lock-ups is a prickly issue as there is dissatisfaction from certain quarters," he said.

Several case of 'lock-up deaths' has cast aspersions on the police, with some accusing them of fatally beating detainees.