Minor help found dead at power dept official’s house,kin allege murder

The victim’s uncle said Srivastava called the girl’s father around 2 pm to say that she is dead. He added that when they reached Srivastava’s residence,they found strangulation marks on the girl’s neck and minor injury marks on her face. Srivastava informed the police about the incident around 4 pm.

Lucknow SSP J Ravinder Goud,who visited the incident spot,said: “Srivastava said the girl was found unconscious on the house’s first floor and taken to a nearby private clinic where she was declared dead on arrival. Police are probing the matter.”

“Srivastava said the girl had gone to take bath but did not come out for long. When his wife Anita and domestic help Ramesh went to check,they found her unconscious,” said a police officer,adding that Srivastava has claimed that the incident took place when he and his son were not at home. Only his wife,daughter and one help,Ramesh,were at home along with the victim.

The girl’s father alleged that when he reached at Srivastava’s house,Srivastava offered him money for not reporting the matter to the police. The girl’s mother,however,said her daughter had not complained about harassment earlier.

Following the incident,a few from a group of people who gathered at the house,damaged cars parked inside Srivastava’s house.

The girl’s postmortem is likely to be conducted on Tuesday. “There were some injury marks on the girl’s body and the possibility of sexual assault is not being ruled out. The police,through autopsy,will also try to ascertain if the girl was sexually assaulted or an attempt was made,” ASP (Trans Gomti) Habibul Hasan said,adding that a few persons have detained for questioning.

The police have lodged an FIR under sections 302 (murder) and 201(causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC against the “residents of Srivastava’s house” on the complaint of the girl’s father.