3 docs, senior cop held for trying to cover up minor’s rape, murder

GUWAHATI: Three doctors of a government hospital in Assam and a senior police officer have been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for allegedly covering up the rape and murder of a 13-year-old domestic help five months ago, the agency said on Tuesday.

Darrang’s suspended additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rupam Phukan and three doctors of Mangaldoi civil hospital, Ajanta Bordoloi, Anupam Sharma and Arun Deka, were arrested late on Monday.

Police sub-inspector (SI) Utpal Bora and a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan, Krishna Kamal Baruah, were arrested earlier in connection with the case, the CID said.

In a statement on Tuesday, the CID said the girl, worked at Baruah’s house in Darrang district. The jawan allegedly raped and murdered her in June and Bora reportedly tried to make it appear to be a suicide after taking money from the accused. The girl’s body was found in Baruah’s house on June 11. “Though the police dismissed the death as a case of suicide, the parents of the victim alleged that she had been murdered and filed an FIR,” a police officer aware of the details said, asking not to be named.

The case got a fresh lease in August after chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the minor’s family and assured action, CID said.

“Probe revealed that there are several commissions and omissions committed by these doctors while conducting the first postmortem exam,” the statement, issued by CID superintendent of police Pranabjyoti Goswami, said. The doctors did not mention injury marks on the skull and neck which were found in the second post-mortem exam, it said.