Man held for girl’s rape,murder

Police said Roy has been charged under IPC Sections 376 and 302,and remanded in police custody for seven days after being produced in court.

As per the missing persons diary lodged with the Ranaghat police station by the girl’s father,on the night of April 14 she had gone to Roy’s residence in Sadhur Bagan slums at 8 pm to watch TV along with another neighbour’s child. When his daughter did not and a search of the locality proved futile,he approached the police.

The police said following the complaint,a search was started and early next morning the child’s body was found in a drain,without any clothes. Roy,meanwhile,went absconding.

Investigating Officer Sub-Inspector Subrata Majumdar said more than a month after the incident,the police are yet to get the forensic report,but a report from police autopsy surgeon who performed the postmortem on the girl’s body pointed to rape. Following the incident,residents of the area had ransacked Roy’s house,put up a road blockade and squatted on the railway tracks demanding justice.

“We were keeping a watch on his relatives’ residences since April 15. During interrogation,he denied the charges. However,there is enough evidence linking him to the child’s murder,” the police said.

They have ruled out any motive based on personal enmity with the victim’s family.

“During investigation we found that Roy had a disturbed life. He was estranged from both his first and second wife,used to get drunk and fight with his neighbours. He was living with his mother in Sadhur Bagan,but was alone with the child on April 14 evening,” the police said.

On August 14,2004,39-year-old Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged to death in Kolkata for the rape and murder of Hetal Parekh (14) in 1990. Chatterjee,a security guard at the building where Hetal lived,had fought a legal battle for 14 years in a bid to escape the gallows.