Decapitated body of 11-year-old girl found in Bengal’s Malda; relative arrested

Security camera footages, which helped police identify the 26-year-old male suspect, showed the Class 5 student riding on January 29

The decapitated body of an 11-year-old girl was recovered by police in the Englishbazar area of West Bengal’s Malda district on Wednesday night, a day after one of her relatives was arrested as the prime suspect, police said.

Police said the girl’s body has been sent for postmortem examination, (Representative Image)

Security camera footages, which helped police identify the 26-year-old male suspect, showed the Class 5 student riding on the pillion of a motorcycle on the evening of January 29, hours before her family lodged a missing complaint at the local police station.

Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the district superintendent of police (SP), said:

“During interrogation, the suspect told us where he dumped the body but made contradictory statements on his motive. The body has been sent for postmortem examination. Only it can ascertain whether the victim was sexually assaulted.”

The incident triggered tension in the neighbourhood where the victim’s father runs a business. Local people blocked roads demanding exemplary punishment for the accused and even ransacked his house on Thursday.