HC notice on plea seeking CBI probe into mysterious deaths of 3 girls

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has put Punjab on notice on a plea seeking probe by an independent agency into the deaths of three minor girls in Rupnagar in June.

The HC acted on plea of fathers of the girls, who are migrant workers from Bihar. Two of the deceased were aged five years and one was threeyears-old. Their bodies were recovered from an Indica car, a day after they went missing in Chamkaur Sahib. An FIR for kidnapping was registered on June 27.

Their counsel Harsh Chopra told the court that the three girls were playing near their houses on June 27 afternoon, when they did not return, their parents lodged complaint with the police.

“Their bodies were found in the car of a local,” he said, adding that initially it was reported that three children locked themselves in the car and died due to suffocation. However, postmortem revealed that they were sexually assaulted.

“Despite reference of assault in autopsy, police are conducting probe in a shoddy manner,” he said. He added that it is to be ascertained how the girls entered the car and how the owner did not know that they were inside the car, which was parked right outside his house.