Korba: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped and smashed to death with stones in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, police said Wednesday. The accused allegedly also killed the girl’s father and his four-year-old granddaughter, who were with the victim, they said. The incident occurred near Gadhuproda village under Lemru police station area January 29. However, the rape and murder came to light Tuesday. So far six allegedly accused in the rape and murder has been arrested, Korba SP Abhishek Meena said Wednesday.
The accused were identified as Santram Majhwar (45), Abdul Jabbar (29), Anil Kumar Sarthi (20), Pardeshi Ram Panika (35), Anand Ram Panika (25) and Uamshankar Yadav (21). They are all natives of Satrenga village in the district, informed Meena.
“The deceased man is a resident of Barpani village. He had been working as a cattle grazer at the house of prime accused Manjhwar since July last year,” Meena stated.
As per the preliminary information, Manjhwar was going to drop the man, his daughter (16) and granddaughter (4) to their village on his motorcycle January 29. On the way, they stopped at Korai village and Manjhwar consumed liquor, following which other accused also joined him, he said.
The accused took the three victims to the foot of a hill surrounded by forest near Gadhuproda. There Manjhwar and another accused allegedly raped the teenage girl. They smashed all the victims to death with stones and sticks. The accused dumped them in the forest before fleeing from the spot, Meena informed.
The deceased man’s son lodged their missing report at Lemru police station Tuesday. Police then swung into action and rounded up six accused following their interrogation,” he said.
Based on the statement of the accused, police reached the crime spot. They found the injured rape victim alive and two others dead. The victim was immediately rushed to a local hospital, but succumbed to her injuries before reaching there, informed Meena.
The victims belonged to Pahadi Korwa tribal community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), police said.
The accused were booked under sections IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (2)G (gangrape) and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added.
