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Police on Tuesday registered a case of murder, kidnap, gang rape and related charges against four persons in connection with the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl whose body was found hanging from a tree in a village four days after she went missing on January 1.
The FIR was registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following protest by hundreds of people from the Dalit community in front of Modasa Rural police station since Monday night.
Following the protest, Mayur Patil and Chaintanya Mandalik, superintendents of Aravalli and Sabarkantha districts respectively, and Inspector General of Police (Gandhinagar Range) Mayanksinh Chavda rushed to the spot and held discussions with the members of the girl’s family and others. Eventually, the decision to register an FIR was taken.
The FIR has been registered on the basis of a complaint by a relative of the deceased. The FIR names four persons — Bimal Bharvad, Darshan Bharvad, Satish Bharvad and Jigar – as accused behind the alleged kidnapping, gang rape and murder of the girl.
As per the FIR, sister of the deceased girl had seen one of the accused coming in his four-wheeler along with the latter near Modasa bus stand on January 1, around 12.30 pm. The sister asked the girl where she was. In reply, the FIR adds, the accused told the sister of the deceased that he had kidnapped her sister and that her family can do whatever they want to. The FIR also mentions that the family members of the victim had checked CCTV footage of a particular location of January 1 in which the deceased was seen in a car with a specific registration number along with the accused.
It also states that when the family members of the deceased approached police inspector of Modasa town police station, NK Rabari, with a complaint about the missing girl on January 3, the latter told them that the girl was safe and had married a youth from her community. As per the FIR, Rabari also reportedly told them that he would produce the girl along with marriage certificate.
However, on January 5, body of the girl was found hanging from a banyan tree in a village.
When asked about the role of the four accused persons in the case and their connection with the deceased, IGP Mayanksinh Chavda said that those details were part of investigation and can’t be revealed now.
Following the registration of FIR, the relatives of the deceased were ready to claim the body and get the postmorterm done.
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