A 9-year-old girl in Delhi was allegedly raped and killed by a priest and three male accomplices. Police said they were alerted of the incident after the girl’s parents made a call to Delhi Police around 10:30 pm and told them their daughter was cremated without their consent.
According to the Hindustan Times, a police team responded to the call and found that the girl’s mother received a call from the crematorium. They told her that her daughter was electrocuted while drinking water from the water cooler.
The girl had earlier informed her mother that she would be heading out to fetch cold water from a cooler at the crematorium around 5:30pm. Just half an hour later, the priest in charge of the crematorium, Radhey Shyam, along with three other male employees called the mother to show her the dead body of her daughter. They also pointed out the burn marks between her left wrist and elbow as the mother said her daughter’s lips were also noticeably blue at the time.
Upon showing her the body, the suspects allegedly pressured the mother from reporting the incident to the police saying they would register a case and send the girl’s body for autopsy. They attempted to frighten the mother as they described that an autopsy would require removal of all her vital organs and the doctors selling them.
The priest also told the mother that cremating the girl without alerting the police would be the best decision and hurriedly proceeded with it.
The parents expressed their suspicions to authorities that the girl may have been raped and then murdered. The family staged a protest with the help of some 200 fellow villagers on Sunday night, which carried through until Monday evening, The Times of India reported. The parents are demanding the arrest of the priest and the three male crematorium employees who were all known to the mother and the girl.
The 55-year-old priest and his three employees identified as Salim, Laxmi Narayan and Kuldeep were all arrested and booked for murder, rape and criminal intimidation.
Village protesters were said to have stormed the crematorium to confront the priest prior to his arrest and urged authorities to check the footage captured by the CCTV cameras installed within the premises of the crematorium. Forensic experts and a crime scene investigation team were called to collect evidence to ascertain the real events behind the girl's mysterious death.
The Aam Aadmi Party reassured the victim’s family and their supporters that a magisterial enquiry will be conducted should police fail at carrying out a fair investigation.
