BHUBANESWAR: The rape and murder of a minor girl in Gujarat is suspected to have an Odisha connection. The body of a girl, aged between 9 and 13, was found on a cricket ground within Pandesara police limits in the north-western State on April 6. Suspecting that the girl might be from Odisha, Gujarat Police have sought the cooperation of their Odisha counterparts for verifying the identity of the girl.
Surat Police a looking at the West Bengal angle.
Informing this to mediapersons here on Monday, DGP Dr RP Sharma said, he received information from Surat Police Commissioner that they had recovered the body of an unidentified minor girl on April 6 near a cricket ground in Pandesara. A case has been registered there under Sections 302, 376 and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The girl was not identified by Surat Police till April 15 evening, he added. Surat Police have provided Odisha Police information about her.
The details have been circulated among all the district SPs to verify if any missing complaint of a minor girl has been lodged, the DGP added. If there is any missing complaint lodged in the police stations of the State matching the details provided by Surat Police we will pass on the information to Gujarat counterparts,” he added. Surat Police did not inform them that basing on what information they were suspecting that her to be from Odisha.