Chhattisgarh: Girl raped, killed along with father; six accused held

KORBA: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped and smashed to death with stones in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday. The accused allegedly also killed the girl's father and his four-year-old granddaughter, who were along with her, they said.

Korba SP Abhishek Meena said that the incident occurred near Gadhuproda village under Lemru police station area on January 29, but came to light on Tuesday, following which six accused were arrested in this connection.

The accused were identified as Santram Majhwar (45), Abdul Jabbar (29), Anil Kumar Sarthi (20), Pardeshi Ram Panika (35), Anand Ram Panika (25) and Uamshankar Yadav (21), all natives of Satrenga village in the district, he said. "The deceased man, a resident of Barpani village, had been working as a cattle grazer at the house of prime accused Manjhwar since July last year," he said.

As per the preliminary information, Manjhwar was going to drop the man, his daughter (16) and granddaughter (4) to their village on his motorcycle on January 29. On the way, they stopped at Korai village and Manjhwar consumed liquor, following which other accused also joined him, he said.

The accused took the three victims to the foot of a hill surrounded by forest near Gadhuproda, where Manjhwar and another accused allegedly raped the teenage girl. He said that they smashed all the victims with stones and sticks and dumped them in the forest before fleeing from the spot. "When the deceased man's son lodged their missing report at Lemru police station on Tuesday, police swung into action and rounded up six accused following their interrogation," he said.

Based on the statement of the accused, police reached the crime spot, where they found the injured rape victim alive and two others dead. She was immediately rushed to a local hospital, but succumbed to her injuries before reaching there, he said.

Police said that the victims belonged to Pahadi Korwa tribal community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

He added that the accused were booked under sections IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (2)G (gangrape) and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.