E-Paper
11-year-old girl found murdered, buried in wheat field in Kanpur; two suspects detained
Two persons, including a neighbour, have been taken into custody on the suspicion of rape and murder and are being questioned, Vipin Tada, additional commissioner of police (law and order), said, adding other suspects are also on police radar and that the case will be worked out soon.
An 11-year-old Class 5 student was found murdered and buried in a wheat field near her home in Kanpur’s Bidhnoo area on Tuesday morning, hours after she had gone out to graze goats and did not return, police said.
Two persons, including a neighbour, have been taken into custody on the suspicion of rape and murder and are being questioned, Vipin Tada, additional commissioner of police (law and order), said, adding other suspects are also on police radar and that the case will be worked out soon.
Police faced stiff resistance from the victim’s family over sending the body for autopsy. Purported videos that surfaced online showed policemen grabbing the body and running to sit in a moving jeep. A constable fell in the process as locals chased the police team amid sloganeering.
The child’s father, a daily-wage labourer, told police that she had stepped out on Monday evening to graze goats in nearby fields. When she failed to return by late evening, the family began searching for her and also alerted Bidhnoo police. The search continued through the night, but to no avail.
On Tuesday morning, family members noticed freshly dug earth in a wheat field close to their home. On digging the spot, they found the girl’s unclothed body. A forensic team was also called to the site. Police suspect the body was buried after 4 am, as the family had been searching the same area and had returned around that time.
According to additional DCP (south) Yogesh Kumar, police suspect the child was strangulated. “Two suspects have been taken into custody and are being questioned,” he said, adding that the autopsy was conducted late in the evening and the body was handed over to the family.
An FIR has been registered under BNS sections for murder and concealment of the body. “If the autopsy report confirms sexual assault, appropriate sections will be added to the FIR,” he added.
Police said the victim’s family has accused the neighbour, who has been detained, of raping the child before strangling her to death and burying the body in the field. The prime suspect is a 28-year-old man described as a habitual alcoholic, who was seen near the girl around the time she left home.
Investigators say the evidence against the prime suspect hardened when a sniffer dog led the team directly to his house. Police also recovered clothes belonging to the suspect.
Officials said three teams have been formed to trace another suspect.
