Couple held over rape, murder of 13-year-old girl in Kalyan

The 35-year-old man allegedly raped and murdered the girl while his third wife Sakshi (25) helped him dispose of the body, police said.

Officials said that the man had six cases against him that included three of sexual harassment. He was released on bail in August this year. While he was externed in the past, he managed to get it stayed claiming he was mentally unfit, sources said.

An officer said that the accused man was arrested from his wife’ native place in Buldhana on Wednesday while the woman was arrested from Kalyan Tuesday. The accused will be produced before the court to get their police custody. The officer said that they will interrogate the duo to find out why the girl was targeted.

The girl had gone missing on Monday evening when she went out after taking Rs 20 from her mother to purchase something to eat. When she did not return home till night, the girl’s parents approached the local police station.

On Tuesday morning, as they went to the local police station, the police received a call that a girl’s body had been found in the Bapgaon area of Bhiwandi in a bag following which the couple was taken to the spot.

The family identified the body following which an FIR was registered and the body had been sent for a postmortem.

The police then started going through the CCTV footage from the spot near a graveyard where the girl’s body was found. The police zeroed in on an auto rickshaw from which the girl’s body was flung at the spot.

Tracking the autorickshaw the police found that it had been driven by the 35-year-old man and his wife was sitting behind with the body. When the police reached the couple’s residence, the man was missing. They took his wife in custody and started interrogating her.

According to police,  she told the police that it was her husband who abducted the girl around 5pm and raped the girl at their residence following which he murdered her.

She came home around 7pm when she informed her about the incident and took help in cleaning the house.

He then called his friend who owned an auto rickshaw. Later, the couple kept the body in the auto-rickshaw and disposed it of at Bhiwandi.

The police then started tracking the accused located him in in Buldhana from where he was placed under arrest.

An officer said that in order to hide his appearance, the accused had shaved off his beard.

The police are getting the 35-year-old man to Thane and his police custody will be sought.

An officer said that the accused and victim families knew each other as they resided in the same locality and the girl had gone to the accused’s house in the past along with her family members on festivals.

Meanwhile, local residents protested in the area and demanded strict action against the accused in the case.

Several women carried out a (silent protest) covering their faces with black masks and demanded that the accused be killed “like in the Badlapur case.”

In August this year, in Thane’s Badlapur, another case of sexual assault of two minors by a school sweeper had led to major protests and blocking of railway lines. Eventually the accused in the case was killed in a police encounter by the police.

An officer said that a strong police bandobast is in place and extra forces have been called in for Thursday. “The final rites of the girl will be carried out on Thursday and extra bandobast has been kept in place to prevent any untoward incidents.”