PATNA: The body of an eight-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped and brutally murdered, was recovered 300 metres away from her house at a village under the Naya Ramnagar police station area in Munger district on Thursday.
The incident, according to police, occurred 200 metres away from the banks of the Ganga where the girl had gone with her father, a fisherman, on Wednesday evening. The girl had accompanied her father up to the riverbank and then told to return home. However, she went missing thereafter.
Incharge of Safia Sarai police outpost Gaurav Kumar said the girl’s body was spotted by villagers around 5am. “The matter was brought to the notice of police after the recovery of the girl’s body. She had gone missing on Wednesday evening and her family members kept searching her without informing the police,” he said.
The SHO said the right eye of the girl was gouged out by the killers. “The girl’s father has submitted a written complaint alleging that his daughter was raped and brutally murdered. However, he has not named anyone in the FIR,” Kumar said.
He added sniffer dogs were pressed into service to trace the movement of suspects. “It is still not clear whether the girl was strangulated or throttled to death. We are awaiting postmortem report to come to a conclusion,” he said.
Munger SP J Jalaraddi said a special investigation team under the leadership of sadar SDPO Nand Ji Prasad has been formed to crack the case.
“The girl’s body was badly mutilated and her one eye was gouged out. It seems she was raped and murdered. A medical board has been formed to carry out postmortem,” the SP said.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
