Even as the Crime Branch has taken over probe into rape and murder of a minor tribal girl in Chatroo area of Kishtwar, a female sanitation worker was arrested on Sunday, thereby taking the total number of arrests to seven.
The seventh accused arrested has been identified as Zarina Begum, 46, of Bandrina area in Kishtwar.
“The female sanitation worker was posted at District Hospital, Kishtwar, where the victim was taken on August 20 for an illegal termination of pregnancy. The victim had died on the same day after delivering a stillborn child,” said people familiar with the development.
Following orders by the LG Manoj Sinha, the Crime Branch is now investigating the case.
A six-member SIT of police had already arrested six accused that included prime accused Khalid Hussain Sheikh, 42, his brothers Tariq Hussain, Riaz Hussain, sanitation worker Farooq Ahmed of Sangrambhatta, Isaaq Mohammad, staff nurse Sonika Parihar.
The High Court of J&K and Ladakh, on Monday, directed the state to produce a detailed order of transferring the case to the crime branch on the next date of hearing, i.e., September 11.
“The high court headed by Justice Rahul Bharti has sought a complete order of transferring the case to the crime branch with all the details of who will head the probe. The court has taken up the matter seriously,” said advocate Deepika Pushkar Nath.
{{/usCountry}}“The high court headed by Justice Rahul Bharti has sought a complete order of transferring the case to the crime branch with all the details of who will head the probe. The court has taken up the matter seriously,” said advocate Deepika Pushkar Nath.
{{/usCountry}}Nath had moved a petition before the high court on behalf of the victim’s father seeking a crime branch probe.
However, the victim’s father in a video message conveyed to Nath said that since the probe has been handed over to the crime branch, he would not pursue the matter further before the high court and would prefer to wait for the outcome of the crime branch probe.
The LG on Saturday handed over the probe to the crime branch for a speedy probe followed by a fair trial through a fast track court.
The 14-year-old tribal girl had been raped multiple times by her school headmaster Khalid Hussain Sheikh, 42, who impregnated her.
The prime accused then connived with his brothers Tariq Hussain and Riaz Hussain, Farooq Ahmed, a sweeper at district hospital Kishtwar, Mohammad Isaq of Sheikhupura and staff nurse Sonika for the illegal termination of minor girl’s pregnancy.
According to a special investigation team (SIT) probe constituted by the Kishtwar senior superintendent of police (SSP), Sheikh conspired with his brother to forcibly end the pregnancy by administering drugs. When complications arose, the accused took the girl to a public health centre in Chatroo. She was later shifted to Kishtwar District Hospital with the assistance of an insider—a sanitation worker at the facility who was terminated from service on Thursday for conspiring to conceal information about the crime.
Sonika’s direct role in the botched termination procedure surfaced during subsequent interrogations, leading to her arrest.