The autopsy report has also confirmed rape and sexual abuse but it is part of probe who all raped her and if she was raped before murder also, said police. (Representational Image)
More than four years after the body of a 16-year-old girl from Ludhiana — who allegedly left her home with her boyfriend in November 2015 — was found, the Moga police on Friday arrested an orchestra operator from Bathinda in connection with the case. The girl’s boyfriend, who had led her to the arrested accused, is yet to be traced.
Moga police said the girl was murdered after which her body was dumped on Moga-Kotkapura main road (near Rajeyana village) by an unidentified ambulance driver who allegedly took Rs 30,000 from the orchestra operator to dispose off the body. The accused told the ambulance driver that she had committed suicide.
The autopsy report has also confirmed rape and sexual abuse but it is part of probe who all raped her and if she was raped before murder also, said police.
The minor’s boyfriend allegedly took her first to his cousin’s place, then to a friend’s place in Bathinda and finally she was left with the orchestra operator in Bathinda where she lived for nearly seven months before he allegedly murdered her, said police.
Inspector Kulwinder Singh, SHO of Baghapurana police station, said the body of the minor was recovered on July 4, 2016, and an FIR against unidentified persons was registered under section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC. He said the girl was identified as her Aadhaar card was found with the body. “But her family wasn’t aware that she had left home of her own will with Ajay, who was then 23. They had filed a missing complaint with Ludhiana police,” said SHO.
Police have arrested Dara Singh alias Ravi (35) of Bathinda, an orchestra/DJ operator who along with his brother-in-law Goldy, allegedly murdered the girl. “They suffocated her with a pillow and strangled her to death. The section 376 (rape) of IPC has been added to FIR subsequently on basis of autopsy report,” said SHO.
Inspector Kulwinder Singh said that on November 21, 2015, Ajay (then 23), who hails from the railway colony of Ludhiana, allegedly took the girl away from her home and went to his cousin Vikas’s place in Dhuri of Sangrur. “From there they went to the place of one Rahul, a resident of railway colony in Bathinda, where they spent the night. The next day on November 22, 2015, Ajay went back to his home in Ludhiana and Rahul took the girl to the place of orchestra/DJ operator Dara Singh alias Ravi, where other girls also used to stay,” said SHO.
For nearly seven months, the girl stayed there and also got a new mobile number which was registered in the name of Dara Singh. “The case has been solved now on basis of that number. He along with his brother-in-law Goldy suffocated her with a pillow on the intervening night of July 2 and 3, 2016, and then went out to dispose her body. They stopped an unidentified driver of an ambulance near Delhi Heart Hospital in Bathinda and told them that their friend’s friend committed suicide at their place,” said SHO.
“For seven months, Ajay did not come to take the girl back to Ludhiana. Even after her body was found, he kept mum and did not reveal to anyone that he had taken her away and left her at Bathinda. His role is being investigated further and if he met the girl later or not,” said SHO. “He is yet to be arrested,” said SHO.
He said that as of now three accused — Dara Singh, Goldy and the unidentified ambulance driver have been booked for murder and causing disappearance of evidence.