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Prayagraj murder case: Kin of deceased raise doubts over police claims
Claiming that there were loopholes in the case work out theory of police, a brother of the man who along with his family was murdered said cops should carry out a fair investigation and no innocent should be framed or harassed
A day after the Prayagraj police arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the brutal murder of four members of a Dalit family in the district, the kin of the victims on Monday said they doubted that the arrested man was the real culprit. The police also said that one of the deceased, who was raped, was not a minor, according to the official documents accessed by them.
The kin say that the motive given by the police behind committing the rape and murder by the alleged accused Pawan Saroj, a labourer, is not strong enough to prove his involvement in the crime. A 50-year-old man, his 47-year-old wife, daughter, who police said was 25, and 10-year-old son were found dead on their beds inside their home in Prayagraj district on Thursday morning (November 25) by relatives. An autopsy report suggested that they were strangled and assaulted with an axe.
Claiming that there were loopholes in the work out theory of police, a brother of the man who along with his family was murdered said cops should carry out a fair investigation and no innocent should be framed or harassed in the case. Police must ensure strict punishment to the culprits who committed the crime, he said.
He, who is an SSB personnel posted in Jharkhand but is in Prayagraj these days, also said it did not sound logical that the arrested suspect killed four members of his family only because his niece rejected his advances. Moreover, the accused never even met her for making any proposal, he claimed.
The accused could have targeted his niece only outside instead of barging into the house and killing all members of the family, he said. He further said police claimed that the accused was illiterate, then how he was chatting on Whatsapp.
“Moreover, instead of receiving messages, my niece could have blocked the number of the accused. It is not possible for the 23-year-old lean framed youth to murder four people alone. Police should have revealed the names of his accomplices as well,” he said.
The kin of the deceased, howver, did not comment on the written complaint given to the police by one of his relatives mentioning a land dispute and alleged that members of an upper-caste family had issued physical and verbal threats to the Dalit family in the past. He said while his family had full faith in police, they will demand a CBI probe if they were denied justice.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, ADG zone Prem Prakash had said: “A scanning of the murdered 25-year-old woman’s WhatsApp messages revealed that she was constantly receiving messages from a number that was traced to the accused Pawan Kumar Saroj.” However, the police said they were yet to establish how he carried out the murders and who his accomplices were. Officials added that they will now take the accused’s DNA samples to gather evidence.
The ADG said the education certificates accessed by them showed that woman was born in 1996 and the charges filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act will no longer be applicable.
Prayagarj SSP Sarvshrestha Tripathi said further investigations were under way. “Police will take remand of the accused to question him in connection with the case. Police investigation is based on circumstantial and scientific evidence and justice will be ensured for the victims,” he said on Sunday.
