7-year-old girl’s murder case: Accused arrested

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, April 18

Uttarakhand police today said it had solved cases pertaining to two murders, which were committed in Haridwar on April 15.

The two incidents involved the brutal murder of a 7-year-old girl in the morning at a secluded godown at the Industrial Estate area of SIDCUL, while at Jamalpur village in Kankhal, a 14-year-old girl was found murdered at her house in the evening.

Haridwar SSP Sweety Aggarwal, disclosing the details of the murder cases at CCR Tower today, said rag-picker Chhotu, resident of Magalganj, Lakhmipur Khiri, Uttar Pradesh, had been arrested in the 7-year-old girl murder case. He had tried to molest the girl and then killed her with sharp weapons.

The deceased girl was alone at her house that day, with her father Rajpal away for work in a factory, mother Rekha having gone to the neighbouring Salempur village to procure medicines.

Sonu used to pick leftover scrap of Hema factory, adjacent to the house of the deceased girl. On that day, he found her alone in the house and tried to force her himself on her, with the girl resisting.

Seeing her screaming, Chhotu attacked her with sharp sickle and tongs. She sustained multiple injuries and died on the spot. Several teams were formed to solve this case, with a total of 250 persons being interrogated, after which, 10 were zeroed on.

Sonu’s body language and contradictory statements led to further suspicion, after which, the police sought more details about his presence during the girl’s murder. Contractor Paigam Rasool, for whom Chhotu used to work, later revealed that Chhotu, on that very day, was seen by him with stained clothes and he had told him about the incident.

On being interrogated, Chhotu accepted his hand in the murder of the minor.

Director General of Police Uttarakhand BS Sidhu has announced a cash award of Rs 20,000 to the police investigating team headed by SHO Mahendra Singh Negi, with Inspector General Garhwal Sanjay Gunjiyal contributing Rs 10,000 and SSP Haridwar Sweety Aggarwal contributing Rs 2,500.

14-yr-old’s murder accused held

Another arrest pertaining to the case of murder of a 14-year-old girl was made, with the police arresting Manoj, resident of Bhattipur village, Lakshar, Haridwar, who used to work as part-time insurance agent.

Manoj had killed Nikki, younger sister of his wife Reshma, as she had come to know about the court marriage of Manoj with her sister, which they had kept hidden from family members and relatives.

Both Manoj and Reshma used to meet at a rented house at Ravli Mehdood village.

Nikki came to know about this and also about the Rs 2 lakh that Reshma had given to Manoj to purchase a motorcycle and for constructing a house.

On April 15, Manoj had an altercation with Nikki, who, as per the arrestee, had warned of disclosing their secret court marriage to relatives, as it had come to light that Manoj’s marriage was being fixed at Saharanpur with another girl by his family members, who didn’t know about his relationship with Reshma.

As per SSP Sweety Aggarwal, Manoj used an iron press and a scissor, which Nikki was using at that point of time to cut paper for covering her books and copies.

Manoj also hit at sensitive parts of the deceased with scissors and strangulated her with a dupatta.

“The arrestee was eyeing the property of Reshma, daughter from the second wife of late Asha Ram. Manoj also tried to blame Dhanveer, Ranvir and Rajveer — children from the first wife of Asha Ram, for Nikki’s murder. But circumstantial evidence, hiding his marriage with Reshma and agreeing to marry another girl, who his parents had suggested, led us to suspecting Manoj’s involvement in this murder,” said the SSP.

The police have also recovered Nikki’s mobile, which Manoj had thrown on the outskirts of the village.

The investigating team comprising SHO Kankhal Ritesh Shah, Om Kant Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Bhagat Das, Ved Prakash, Urmila Badola, Manoj Gairola, Sunil Rana, Sandeep Kamboj, Satpal, Pradeep, Sandeep, Tarendra Singh and Sunil Sharma has been awarded Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 2,500 respectively by Uttarakhand DGP, IG-Garhwal range and SSP Haridwar.