Girl’s father identifies body, police add murder charge

Our Correspondent

Zirakpur, September 21

A day after body of a 16-year-old girl was recovered near farm house close to Lohgarh village in Zirakpur, the police registered a murder case against unidentified persons today. The deceased was identified as Ramanpreet Kaur, a resident of Lohgarh village.

Earlier, the police had initiated an inquest proceeding. Meanwhile, the police have started an investigation into the case and questioned a few persons in this connection. But going by the statement of victim’s father Karnail Singh Section 302 (Murder) was added in the FIR today by the police.

As per the available information, the minor girl had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on September 17. The victim’s father, an ex-serviceman, now into farming, in his complaint to the police had alleged that he had three children. He stated that his 16-year-old daughter Ramanpreet Kaur, a student of Class XI, had left for her tutor’s place, located barely a few metres away from their residence around 4 pm on September 17.

He further stated that she came back around 6 pm and again left for her second tuition 15 minutes later. She did not return home since then. The family started looking for their daughter and even contacted relatives thinking she might have gone to their place when she did not come home till late in the night. 

Karnail Singh said he came to know from their neighbour that the police had recovered a body near farm house close to Lohgarh village on September 20. He immediately rushed to the police station and identified his daughter from her slippers and specstacles recovered from the body.

Going with the statement of the victim’s father, the police registered a murder case against unidentified persons at the Zirakpur police station on Friday.

However, officials of the Zirakpur police station did not rule out the possibility of rape before the girl was murdered. The exact cause of death could be ascertained only after the arrival of the post-mortem report, they added.

Police officials said they were working on different clues to trace the accused involved in the case. The reasons behind the murder was not known, they added. Sources said the deceased was the second child among three siblings.