Jind rape: Teen named suspect found dead
The girl and the man, a Class 12 youth, were both Dalits who went to the same private school and took tuitions from the same teachers in Kurukshetra’s Jhansa village, less than 200 kilometres from Delhi. The two had gone missing after they left separately for tuitions late afternoon on January 9.
Garg said the investigators were probing the role of “strangers as well as known persons”, while admitting that there had been no breakthrough in the case. The theories being suggested by the police range from “honour killing”, which, they say, “cannot be ruled out”, to a “suicide pact”, which Dr Dhattarwal has dismissed.
The man’s relatives had been rounded up for questioning soon after the girl’s disappearance. Members of his family, including his father, and some of his friends were detained till Wednesday afternoon. Tensions flared in Jhansa village soon after the body was released to his rela- tives, who refused to cremate the body alleging that they had been tortured in police custody — a charge the police denies.
Saying that the two teenagers were “in touch”, Garg said that the investigators had established that two had left the village together and had headed towards the adjacent Bhakra canal. “This has been confirmed by villagers who had last seen them,” the police superintendent said.
On Wednesday, CCTV footage from around 4.20pm on January 9 showed a girl walking on the village street in a jacket and three young men on a motorcycle overtaking her. Puneet Mal, husband of the sarpanch in Jhansa village, said that the girl and one of the motorcycle-borne men were the two dead teenagers. But the police insisted this was not true.
One of the relatives of the man suggested that the two victims were in a relationship. “The girl’s parents were opposed to this. This was a cause of constant conflict between the two families,” a cousin said, alleging that the girl’s parents were involved in the double murder.
The girl’s parents, however, vehemently refuted this allegation and denied that the victims were friends. “If you were to produce the youth before me, I wouldn’t even be able to identify him. Would I assault my own daughter?” the girl’s father asked.
Mounting interest around the case took a sharp political turn on Wednesday with a Congress delegation led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda submitting a memorandum to Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, seeking the imposition of President’s rule because of the “complete breakdown of law and order” in the state.
Chief minister ML Khattar promised to take “strict action” and asked all Opposition parties not to politicise the incident. tion is not ruled out at these levels, but momentum and buoyancy is very strong. Broad direction remains positive,” said Jani.
All eyes are set on the upcoming Union Budget. An increase in spending on rural, social and agricultural sectors will provide further momentum to the rally. However, the introduction of a long term capital gains tax could act as a deterrent.
Currently, India taxes only short-term gains (those accrued within a year).
There are other factors that could cause short-term disruptions. For one, crude oil prices hovering near $70 a barrel levels can stymie an earnings recovery by squeezing margins.
Secondly, global central banks are reducing their bloated balance sheets. That could lead to a reversal in foreign investor inflows, removing some support for the stock rally. However, experts said retail investors should still buy equities from a long-term point of view.
“Retail investors can still come in at these levels. Timing is not a problem from a long-term investment horizon, but stock picking remains key,” said Jani of Sharekhan.