Bhopal: The Jabalpur Police are investigating the alleged involvement of a 15-year-old girl in the murder of her 52-year-old father and 8-year-old brother. The girl was initially believed to be missing, but is now suspected of being on the run with a 19-year-old man.
The double murder in Jabalpur district came to light Friday morning after the girl sent a voice note via WhatsApp from her father’s cell phone to her cousin sister in Pipariya, said Aditya Pratap Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Jabalpur, while speaking to the media Friday.
Soon after, the cousin’s father, the girl’s uncle, rushed to Jabalpur and informed the police. At the house, the SP said, the police found the door to be locked from the outside and broke it open to find two dead bodies — the father was lying in a pool of blood on the ground, while the 8-year-old’s body was found stuffed in the refrigerator. The police are still looking for a murder weapon.
SP Singh said that the girl in her voice note to her cousin had accused the 19-year-old, also a neighbour, of murdering her father and brother.
The 19-year-old had in September last year been charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code for kidnapping and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for allegedly raping the girl. He was arrested and served time in prison, but was released on bail. However, police suspect that the two had eloped, but since the girl was a minor, a case of kidnapping was registered against him.
Initially, the police believed him to be the sole suspect in the murders, but have since unearthed evidence at the crime scene that suggests otherwise.
According to police sources, there were no signs of forced entry into the house. Additionally, two days prior to the incident, the girl was seen riding with the 19-year-old on an Activa scooter. In a CCTV footage retrieved from the day of the incident, the 19-year-old man is seen leaving the building they lived in on his Activa and, minutes later, the girl is seen walking out too.
CCTV footage from other locations, too, confirm that she was seen with him again on the same scooter following the murder. They were later spotted at Madan Mahal Railway Station, where they abandoned their vehicle, before taking an autorickshaw and heading to the bus stand, where they boarded a bus to flee Jabalpur. The scooter has been recovered from the railway station, the SP told media persons.
“Based on prima facie evidence, it appears that the girl is involved in the murders and the two are traveling together. Our teams are working on the case and tracing them. Hopefully, they will be held soon,” said SP Singh speaking to ThePrint.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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