A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped and murdered by a group of four teenagers, including three minors, in Delhi, with the case coming to light on Sunday.
How police zeroed in on the accused
Two police officers confirmed to HT that at least three of the accused confessed to raping the victim. The police said on Thursday that the accused allegedly dumped the minor victim’s body in a field in outer Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar . The investigators told HT that the crime appears to have taken place on Friday, but it only came to light on Sunday when the locals saw the girl’s highly decomposed body being attacked by dogs and other animals. Police said none of the local residents had reported seeing the girl on Saturday night or Sunday.
A team led by additional deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Lokeshwaran R and ACP Ravinder Ahlawat began investigating the circumstances surrounding the dumping of the body. Investigators recovered two knives allegedly used in the crime and the clothes the accused were wearing. Because her parents were unaware that she had gone out and had been missing for two days, police said, no missing-person complaint had been filed.
These included a 19-year-old man and three minors, apprehended after police launched an overnight search operation. The police said that the accused were identified as 19-year-old Shivam Ganesh and three minors aged 17 and 16.
Officials said that all the accused were in custody.
How the case came to light
Police said they received information on Sunday morning about a body lying in a field near Kushak Road in Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar. Investigation teams were subsequently tasked with establishing her identity and tracing her family. Based on the family’s statement and post-mortem findings, police registered a case of murder, rape and causing disappearance of evidence.
The body was mutilated, with the right hand missing and the face and abdomen disfigured due to decomposition.
Senior police officers said the girl could not initially be identified.
