The body of a 7-year-old girl, murdered after being raped, was found in Simbli village, Hoshiarpur, on Wednesday. The half-covered body was lying near a heap of paddy husk.
The victim's grandfather, a migrant from Poornia district of Bihar, told the police that he had brought
her granddaughter (daughter's daughter) and his 26-year-old grandson (son of another daughter) Sanjay Rishi to the village a few days ago.
He said that the two went missing on Tuesday evening. "On Wednesday, I was informed that a child's body was lying in the fields. It was my granddaughter's," he said.
SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said that circumstantial evidence pointed towards Sanjay Rishi, the grandson, as the chief suspect.
"The post-mortem report is yet to arrive, but since there seems to be no other motive for the murder of the child, we have registered a rape case as well," he added. He said that a manhunt had been launched and the Bihar police had also been alerted.
The Mehtiana police have registered a case against Sanjay Rishi under Sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of IPC. The accused is at large.