3 booked for raping 14yearold in Patiala

Mystery behind death of a 12yearold boy found hanging in house backyard solved

PATIALA: Police claim to have solved the mysterious death of a 12-year-old boy found hanging from a hook in the backyard of his house in a village under Ghagga police station on June 15. According to the department it was murder and three people have been booked in the case. The parents of the boy, who work as daily wagers, had been accusing a relative of killing their ward.

PATIALA: Police claim to have solved the mysterious death of a 12-year-old boy found hanging from a hook in the backyard of his house in a village under Ghagga police station on June 15. According to the department it was murder and three people have been booked in the case.

The parents of the boy, who work as daily wagers, had been accusing a relative of killing their ward to avenge old enmity. Police claim the Class-5 student at a government school was strangulated to death after he saw the three accused — Kuldeep Singh, 28, Jugraj Singh, 20, and Gurjant Singh, 20 — raping his 14-year-old sister, a Class-8 student. The children were alone in the house as their parents had gone to attend a cremation in another village.

Ghagga SHO Gurmeet Singh said, “The 14-year-old girl has recounted the sequence of events. The three accused barged into their house and sexually assaulted her. Her brother was outside playing. He happened to enter the house and saw the accused overpowering his sister. As he threatened to raise an alarm, the accused strangulated him with a piece of cloth.”

The SHO added that to make the death appear like a suicide, the accused hung the body from a hook in the backyard of the house and fled. “The minor girl was in shock. Only on Wednesday did she tell her father about what had happened. Statements have been recorded,” the SHO said, adding the accused had threatened the girl with killing her parents.

Police are now carrying out raids to nab the accused and have also started the process to get the girl medically examined.

The three accused have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.