Man held in Surat minor's rape-murder case

  AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Police on Friday arrested a man from Ganganagar in neighbouring Rajasthan in connection with the rape and murder of a minor girl whose body was found on April 6, Gujarat Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said.

The accused has been identified as Harsh Sahay Gurjar. He was held from Ganganagar in Sawai Madhopur district, Jadeja told reporters.

He said that three-four days after the minor's body was found, the police had recovered the body of a woman from the same area, and that there was a "high chance" that the woman might be the victim's mother.

It was possible that the accused was behind the killing of both the persons, Jadeja said.

He said a vital lead in the investigation of the crime came when the police, scouring CCTV footage of the Pandesara area, where the girl's body was found, zeroed in on a black car.

The minister said the ownership of the car was traced to a stone contractor at whose place the girl and her mother, originally from Rajasthan, were working.

The contractor told the police that his brother had gone to Rajasthan in that car and that he suspected his involvement, Jadeja said.

The minister said Gurjar even tried to dispose of the girl's body using the black car. "We believe that he has killed both of them. We will be conducting DNA tests to verify if the there is a relationship between the woman and the girl."