In yet another shocker, a 16-year-old girl, who was found dead and partially burnt at her house in East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area on Thursday, was allegedly raped and murdered by one of her neighbours, police said on Monday. The accused, identified as Danish, 25, was arrested. His brother, Ashu, 23 was also arrested for allegedly raping the deceased’s friend. Both the brothers work in a garment shop.
The duo had allegedly raped a friend of the deceased two weeks back. She, however, came to the police after her friend was found murdered in her house. Had she reported the matter then, her friend would have been alive, said police.
Initially, the local police tried to pass off the case as suicide but it was converted into a murder case after the autopsy report revealed that the girl was throttled to death.
The incident came to light after the police control room got a call about a fire in Gandhi Nagar area. Police and fire brigade teams that had rushed to the site to control the blaze, had broken open the room locked from outside and found a partially-burnt body of a girl lying on a cot.
Police said that the girl, who studied in 9th standard in a Government school, had returned home from school around 1 pm on Thursday and was alone in the flat as her mother and brother had gone out for work.
“The deceased’s mother works at a grocery store while her brother does a private job. Her father was not in Delhi when the incident happened,” said a police official.
During investigation, name of Danish came up as he had been stalking the girl for quite some time. Danish knew the girl as they are both from the same locality, police said. “To further verify facts, deceased’s friends were examined and during examination another girl, who is also neighbour of Danish and close friend of deceased girl alleged that she was raped by both, Danish and Ashu a fortnight ago,” said the official.
The girl’s statement was recorded by a woman police officer and another case was registered. Both Danish and Ashu were arrested under Sections of rape and other Sections of IPC.
During questioning, the accused told the police that Danish had murdered the girl on Thursday at her home and burnt her body after pouring turpentine oil on it.
“In a premeditated plan, the accused Danish forced his entry the house of the minor girl then sexually assaulted her. He strangled her to death. In order to mislead the police, he partially burnt her as well,” said the police official.
Danish was also booked under Section 302(murder) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code. He is being interrogated at Gandhi Nagar police station after he was produced in a city court and remanded to three days police custody.
“Both have been booked for raping a minor. We are waiting for the post-mortem report of the girl to ascertain whether she was raped or not,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Rishi Pal Singh.