The police investigation into the alleged gangrape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Haridwar took a macabre turn as police booked six men and two women, and chilling details of her last few hours came to light.
According to senior officers, they have charged Amit Saini (26), who knew her, with rape and murder, and three of his family members with murder. They have also charged Amit’s brother Nitin (20) and three of his friends with gangrape. Six of the accused have been arrested while the rest are absconding, police said.
Aditya Raj Saini, a village pradhan’s husband, a BJP leader, and a member of Uttarakhand’s OBC Commission, who was initially considered a suspect in the case, was not found to be involved in the rape or murder, police said. However, he has been charged with conspiracy for allegedly withholding information from the police.
Haridwar SSP Parmendra Dobhal said that around 4.45 am on Monday, police received information about a girl lying injured on the Haridwar-Roorkee highway. She was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
She was identified around 6 pm, and her mother filed an FIR naming Amit and Aditya.
Police started tracing her movements from the previous day, reviewing over 400 CCTV cameras and 900 call records.
“On Sunday, as part of a well-planned conspiracy, Nitin contacted the girl to meet. In the evening, Nitin and his friend Nikhil (20) picked her up on their motorcycle. Their friends Tushar (20) and Mausam (19) met them on the highway. The five went to a bypass road and consumed alcohol,” said Haridwar police in a statement.
“When the girl became intoxicated, they took her to a deserted place, where Nitin and Nikhil allegedly raped her. Tushar and Mausam were allegedly about to rape her but were scared off by people passing by. The accused then left her near her house late at night,” said the police.
SSP Dobhal said the girl did not go home, and instead went to the residence of Amit. His parents and his sister were at the house.
According to the police, Amit allegedly took the girl to his room. “When she told Amit about the rape, he became furious and started beating her, causing a lot of noise… Fearing that the girl was a minor and they would get caught, Amit’s family members allegedly began beating her too. During this, her head hit an iron gate, rendering her unconscious,” police said.
The police claimed to have found blood marks in the room, on the gate, and on the cloth used to clean the blood. Bloodstained clothes of the girl and her phone have also been recovered.
According to police, Amit panicked and allegedly took the unconscious girl to the Delhi-Haridwar Highway, where he dumped her under the cover of darkness.
He then fled and informed Aditya, his cousin. The next morning, when her mother reached out to Aditya, he allegedly advised her not to go to the police, and to search for her on her own, police said.
The girl’s mother said a few days before the incident, Amit had come to their home and had beaten her daughter.
“This entire incident happened after 7 pm on Sunday when my daughter got a call and left home. Around 11 pm, her phone was switched off. I called Amit and he said they were attending a birthday party and she would return the next morning. When she did not return, I went to Aditya who… asked me to go away. In the evening, Aditya told me my daughter had been killed in a road accident,” the mother alleged.
Police started tracing her movements from the previous day, and reviewing over 400 CCTV cameras and 900 call records.
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