Young Mom Grieving Infant's Death Raped And Murdered By Dad While Her Brother Stood Guard

A 25-year-old woman who was grieving the death of her infant was raped and murdered by her own father while her brother stood guard.

The barbaric crime came to light when a forest officer located the bodies of the infant and a woman in the Kathotia forest range, in Bhopal, India.

On Sunday, Nov.14, the forest officer Radheshyam Jatav was doing his routine rounds in the forest range when he spotted the body of an infant near a dried-up ravine. When he rushed to the spot, he located a woman’s body lying not too far away.

The police were alerted and the responding officers located the decomposed bodies believed to be lying there for at least 10-12 days.

The bodies were sent to a medical examiner’s office for an autopsy, meanwhile, the police began a murder investigation.

However, the investigation took a turn when the autopsy results revealed that the woman was raped before being strangled to death. The infant’s cause of death was determined to be acute pneumonia.

The investigators circulated the photos of the deceased to check if they matched the description of any missing person’s report filed in the area.

Shortly after, investigators received an update that the description matched that of a missing woman from the neighboring Bilkisganj area of Sehore.

The woman had married a lower caste man against the will of her parents about a year ago. The woman was neither at her husband’s home nor at her parental home.

A further probe revealed that the woman had been living with her elder sister after a tiff with her husband.

When the police spoke to the sister, she revealed the details of the horrific crime.

The victim’s sister told police that the woman’s five-month-old baby died of pneumonia on Nov.4. They then informed their father and brother about the same, who came to the home and took the mother and deceased baby on a motorcycle to the forest range for burying the infant.

The men held a grudge against the mother because she had married a lower caste man against their will and had also made plans to murder her.

Considering this to be the perfect opportunity, the accused men decided to execute their plan.

Once they reached the isolated forest range, the 55-year-old father took his daughter and her deceased infant deep into the forest while his 24-year-old son stood guard near the road.

The man then raped his own daughter before strangling her to death, police said. He then fled the spot leaving both the bodies to rot in the jungle. The father-son duo returned home and threatened the man’s elder daughter to maintain silence.

Based on the woman’s statement, the police nabbed both the accused from their home in Bilkisganj.

Police said the suspects initially, tried to mislead the investigators but later confessed to the crime.

A case on charges of murder, rape, and criminal conspiracy was registered, police said. A further probe is underway.