Siwan: Minor’s body recovered, 1 held

In yet another incident of crime against a minor, police recovered body of a missing five-year-old girl from a bush close to her house under Pachrukhi police station area of Siwan in the wee hours of Tuesday

In yet another incident of crime against a minor, police recovered body of a missing five-year-old girl from a bush close to her house under Pachrukhi police station area of Siwan in the wee hours of Tuesday. One person was arrested in this connection, officials said.

The arrested person confessed to his crime, Siwan SP Abhinav Kumar said. (Representative image)

The arrested person confessed to his crime, Siwan superintendent of police (SP) Abhinav Kumar said, adding that a murder case was lodged against him.

Following the body’s recovery, irate locals attacked the police team and damaged one of their vehicles.

Police said prima facie, it appears that the minor was sexually assaulted and then killed. The body, which was found covered in a bedsheet, was sent for postmortem examination, officials said. Her family members also alleged sexual assault, as some objectionable items were recovered from near the girl’s body.

As per available information, the minor went missing when she went to attend a funeral service near her house on Monday evening. Her family members along with other villagers launched a search operation but could not trace her.

Police said that when the victim’s body was recovered, villagers caught a suspect and handed him over to the police.

The suspect, identified as Pradip Singh, a resident of Ramgarh village under Siswan police station, came to attend the funeral. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and said he lured the minor on the pretext of sweets and chocolates and took her to a secluded place and attempted to sexually assault her. When she raised an alarm, Pradip strangulated her to death on the spot and dumped the body in a farm field.

Assuring speedy trail in the case, the SP said, “Concerned SHO is investigating the matter. A case of murder has already been registered. Police is awaiting the autopsy report to confirm rape.”

The state till September 2020 has witnessed 2,406 cases of murders and 1,106 rape cases.

The Bihar Police headquarters officials, quoting National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) 2019 data said Bihar ranks 31 in rape cases in the country. The national ratio for rape is 4.9, while in Bihar it is 1.3. Similarly, as far as crime against women is concerned, Bihar ranks 28th, as per NCRB.