Mystery shrouds girl’s death, classmate still missing
SBSNAGAR: Mystery shrouds the death of 14-year-old Manpreet Kaur of Mehatpur Uldhani village, whose body was found floating in the Bist-Doab canal late Friday evening while her classmate Rupinderjeet Kaur, 14, of Chahala village, who was seen last time with her, is still missing in Balachaur town of the district.
The police have deployed a fleet of 150 policemen in the town and formed five special teams to crack the case. The police teams are working under the supervision of senior superintendent of police (SSP) Satinder Singh, who himself is camping in the town. MURDER CASE REGISTERED The Balachaur police have registered a murder case against unidentified persons on the statement of Manpreet’s uncle Balraj Singh, 30, of Nakodar.
Balraj Singh said Manpreet Kaur was wearing the school dress when the body was brought out from the canal but her socks, tie, shoes, and bag were missing.
Balraj Singh also alleged that there was no water in her stomach and foam was noticed in the mouth.
It indicated that someone had killed her before dumping the body in the canal, Balraj Singh added.
POLICE HAVE CALLED SWIMMERS AND TALKED TO THE CANAL DEPT TO REDUCE THE FLOW OF WATER TO SEARCH RUPINDERJEET
KIDNAPPING OF MISSING GIRL ALLEGED The police have also registered a kidnapping case on the statement of Rupinderjeet’s father Kulwant Singh, 45, as he had suspected someone had abducted his daughter. STEPS TAKEN The police have called swimmers and talked to the canal department to reduce the flow of water to search Rupinderjeet.
The teams have also quizzed the auto-rickshaw driver, who told the cops that he had dropped them near the canal and did not know anything else.
The cops have also talked to school authorities, the girls’ classmates and the bus driver in which they were going to school and coming home. WHAT BUS DRIVER SAYS According to the bus driver, the girls had stepped down from the bus in the midway claiming that they wanted to join the tuition class when he was going to drop them at their homes. Later both girls hired an auto-rickshaw to reach the canal. On Saturday evening, the body of Manpreet was cremated after hectic persuasion by the officials as the family had earlier denied to cremate the body.
Station house officer SHO, Balachaur police station, inspector Harjinder Singh, said on Friday morning, a mobile phone was found from Rupinderjeet by a school teacher and authorities called their parents on Saturday morning in this regard. Senior superintendent of police Satinder Singh said police are working round-theclock efforts to crack the case.