Odisha: Missing minor girl found murdered after gangrape

CUTTACK: In a gruesome incident, a minor Dalit girl, who was missing from Sudasailo village within Govindpur police limits in the district for the last one month, was found murdered after being raped by a group of persons.

According to police, the girl, Sanghamitra Bhoi alias Kandhei (17), was kidnapped by one Rajesh Patnaik alias Bapi, a 35-year-old married man of nearby Tunda village on February 10. Next day, her mother Mata Bhoi filed an FIR in this regard at Govindpur police station following which a kidnapping case was registered and investigation launched.  

By tracking the mobile phone of the accused, police cornered Rajesh on Saturday and later, basing on his confessional statement, nabbed his two accomplices Sunil Pani alias Geda (30) of Balikuda and Kalu Bhoi (27) of adjacent Badamulei village, while another accused is absconding, said SP, Cuttack (Rural), Madhab Chandra Sahoo.

During interrogation, the accused trio confessed to their crime and told the police that after raping the girl, they strangulated her to death. They buried her body in Balijala field on the outskirts of Tunda village about 15 days back.  

Acting on the confessional statements of the accused, police accompanied with scientific team rushed to the spot and exhumed the highly decomposed body of the deceased minor girl, Sahoo said. The body has been sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for post-mortem and the report is awaited for further investigation, Sahoo said.

Meanwhile, Sukant Bhoi, the father of deceased girl, has alleged that he had to lost the life of his daughter due to deliberate negligence of the local police. “Had the police taken timely action to trace the accused persons, his daughter’s life would have been saved,” he said.