Cousin held for rape, murder of Bhiwandi girl

A cousin was arrested for the rape and murder of a girl a day after the Bhau Bij festival in Thane.

According to the police, a 12-year-old boy was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping and murdering her 5year-old co-sister. The incident took place at Saravli Village of Kongaon area in Bhiwandi on Monday night.

Talking to the FPJ, senior inspector of the Kongaon police station, Ramesh Katkar said, “We are questioning the relatives and neighbours of the deceased girl. We learnt that the accused cousin had a smartphone and its galary had blue pictures. It was his father’s smartphone, who used the device rarely. On this, we got suspicious at him and interrogated the boy. He revealed that he had lured the girl on the pretext of giving her fire crackers, took her to an isolated place, raped her and murdered her.”

“We arrested him and produced him before the Juvenile Justice Board, which sent him to the correction home,” he added.

The victim was a class I student, and had been missing. She was last seen while playing with children outside her house, he said.

Initially, the girl’s family, who are labourers, searched for her in the village. When they failed to locate their daughter, they approached the Kongaon police, who launched a search.

The police conducted the search throughout the night and her body was recovered around 8 am on Tuesday.

Police registered an FIR against the unidentified person under sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and under the POCSO Act.