PATNA: Bihar police on Saturday arrested one of the six accused in connection with alleged gangrape and murder of a 14-year-old Dalit girl in Muzaffarpur district. In a related development, police attached the property of the main accused Sanjay Rai, who is still absconding.
The girl’s mutilated body was found in a village pond under Paroo police station, a day after she was kidnapped from her house on August 11. The girl’s mother, in a police complaint, alleged that a fellow villager Sanjay Rai had asked the family to allow him to marry their minor daughter, which the family refused.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Muzaffarpur Rakesh Kumar said that one person has been detained for interrogation in the case. The detainee is charged with helping the main accused escape from the village after the incident was reported to the local police. A blood-stained sharp-edged weapon has been recovered from the spot, he added.
SSP Kumar said that the doctors who conducted post-mortem have not confirmed rape as alleged by the deceased’s family. He, however, admitted that signs of injuries on the victim’s face, neck and left hand were found. “A property attachment notice issued by a court against main accused was pasted at his residence on Friday,” he revealed.
On Saturday, the property attachment order issued by the court was executed. He said that raids have been intensified to nab other accused in the case.
In the FIR, the girl’s mother alleged that Rai, who was married with three children, wanted to marry his teenage daughter. A day before the crime, he had threatened the family with dire consequences for turning down his marriage proposal.
“We were apprehensive of untoward incident, which happened on August 11,” the victim’s mother said.
The six accused, including Rai, have been booked for gang-rape, and murder, in addition to charges under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.