SHILLONG: A tribal Garo girl was found beheaded and burnt inside a reserve forest in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district on Sunday. The girl's stepfather, the prime suspect, was arrested, police said on Monday.
Meanwhile, home minister Roshan Warjri has directed police to fast-track the case and ensure justice to the girl's family.
The girl was missing for over a week.
"The beheaded body of Richina N Sangma, 15, was found Sunday from Rongrenggre reserve forest. She went missing since September 28," said Davies Marak, police chief of East Garo Hills.
He said: "The head and an arm were found at a distance. The head did not have any flesh. We suspect wild animals to have eaten the flesh."
The police officer said the post-mortem examination was conducted at the spot in view of the highly decomposed body.
Marak said: "We have arrested Rashu N. Marak, the stepfather of the girl, following an FIR lodged by her mother Grichina. We are interrogating him."
Rashu Marak filed a missing person case after his wife persisted. In the FIR, he claimed to have taken the girl to a doctor in Williamnagar, the district headquarters of East Garo Hills, and then sent her home in an auto.
Warjri condemned the killing, saying: "This gruesome incident should be condemned by all right-thinking citizens in strongest terms. Such elements have no place in a civilised society and the police are already on their job to nab the killers."