Shimla rapemurder cracked, 6 arrested
Victim was strangled to death, says autopsy report
SHIMLA: Nearly a week after a naked body of a schoolgirl was found in Kotkhai area of Shimla, triggering outrage, police on Thursday said it had arrested six accused for rape and murder of the minor girl.
“We have technical, circumstantial and scientific evidence against all six accused,” director general of police (DGP) Somesh Goyal told reporters here.
The accused, aged between 19 and 42, included two Nepalese and two from Uttarakhand. Most were farm labourers and had settled in Kotkhai area. The 16-year-old girl was offered lift in a vehicle by the accused on July 4 when she was returning home from school. On the way, the accused raped and murdered her at a nearby forest.
SHIMLA: The police have arrested six persons for the rape and murder of a minor at Kotkhai even as the autopsy report confirmed that the victim was strangulated after being sexually assaulted.
The SIT, headed by IG southern range Zahur Zaidi, interrogated the six accused in this case.
On Thursday, police arrested Ashish Chauhan, 29, a resident of Sharaal village in Kotkhai tehsil, and an engineering student in Bengaluru. Later in the day, police nabbed five others — Rajinder Singh (32) of the Sharaal, Subash Singh Bisht (42) of Pauri Garhwal, Surat Singh (29) of Nepal, Lok Jan (19) of Nepal and Deepak (38) of Garhwal. Subash Singh Bisht is a priest in a temple at Pauri Garhwal.
Addressing media, director general of police (DGP) Somesh Goyal said, “We had technical, circumstantial and scientific evidences against all the six arrested.” The arrest comes almost nine days after the incident sparked widespread outrage and protests in the town.
He said: “The SIT is painstakingly collecting more evidence to link the criminals to the rape and murder of the girl,” and added: “Rajinder Singh, who worked as a manager with local orchardist was familiar to the girl and offered her lift in the pickup vehicle, where four others were already present. All five persons in the vehicle were in an inebriated condition. After the vehicle moved a few kilometers, they committed the heinous crime.”
He also appealed to the people to desist from circulating unverified reports and photographs related to the case on social media.
NO BROKEN BONES, SAYS POST-MORTEM REPORT
The autopsy report submitted by the Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital to police confirmed that the 16-year-old victim had died of asphyxiation.
The report found strangulation marks on her neck. It revealed that the girl struggled hard to free herself from the clutches of the men who are said to have sexually assaulted her.
“The body had lesion and scratches on the back,” said the report while denying that any of her bones had been broken as claimed by some media reports.
The report states that the victim was probably dragged on a rough surface after being strangulated. The body, which was found on July 6, was infested with maggots.