RAJKOT: It could not get more brutal than this. A Class XI girl playing with her younger brother was dragged out of her house in Jetalsar village of Jetpur taluka of Rajkot, by a 23-year-old youth, who thrashed her for rejecting his marriage proposal. When the girl refused to give in, the youth allegedly stabbed her 32 times with a knife in full public view till she died.
On Wednesday, the police detained the youth Jayesh Sarvaiya, a resident of Jetalsar village, for the murder of a 16-year-old girl Shrusti Raiyani. Entire Jetalsar village observed bandh in wake of the killing of the teenage girl. All shops and markets in the village closed down for one day, said police, adding that additional security force was deployed in Jetalsar to make sure no untoward incident takes place.
According to police, Jayesh had barged into Shrusti’s house in the village on Tuesday evening when she was alone with her younger brother.
“Jayesh had been following the victim, who was a student of Jetpur Girl’s School, for quite some time. On Tuesday evening Jayesh came to Shrusti’s house and asked her to accept his marriage proposal. But the girl refused. So he dragged her out of the house and stabbed her 32 times,” said a police officer of Jetpur police station.
He said that when the girl’s younger brother Harsh tried to intervene, Jayesh attacked him with a knife too. But Harsh managed to escape with few superficial wounds and took refuge in a neighbour’s house.
As soon as the news about the brutal murder spread in the village people gathered around the girl’s house and demanded that the accused be arrested immediately. The girl’s body was sent to Rajkot civil hospital for postmortem. The family members first refused to accept the girl’s body till Jayesh was arrested.
On Wednesday, police arrested Jayesh and assured the victim’s family of strict punishment for the accused. After this assurance, the girl’s family accepted her body and cremated her in the village. Shrusti’s father is a farmer.