Ghaziabad: Boys aged 13 and 11 held for 8-year-old’s rape, murder

The Ghaziabad Police on Sunday said it apprehended a 13-year-old boy who allegedly raped and murdered his eight-year-old cousin as she had told his father she was molested by the suspect a month ago, in Masuri, Ghaziabad.

The girl went missing in the afternoon of April 20 and after an expansive search, her parents and locals found her body in a drain on the following day. (Representative image)

Police said they also apprehended the 11-year-old brother of the prime suspect for helping him dump and cover the victim’s body in a nearby drain. The incident happened on April 20.

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Deputy commissioner of police (rural) Vivek Chandra Yadav said that during the investigation, it came to light that the 13-year-old was beaten up by his father when the victim complained to him about the molestation.

“To avenge this, the 13-year-old boy took her to an isolated storeroom nearby and raped her. The girl tried to shout but hit her with bricks in the head, during which she died. Then he called his younger brother and they took the body to the drain and covered it with bricks,” DCP said.

Police said the girl went missing in the afternoon of April 20 and after an expansive search, her parents and locals found the body in a drain on April 21. “We lodged an FIR and initiated the investigation. The two suspects were taken into custody after they revealed the sequence of events,” said a police investigator.

“On April 21, the 11-year-old fabricated a story and got the body recovered from the drain. He told his family that he met an unidentified 65-year-old man who told him that they should look for the body near the drain,” DCP added.

The second officer said that the 13-year-old had left for his grandfather’s house about 17km away by then, as was revealed by his brother during interrogation.

“At the grandfather’s house, the 13-year-old broke down and revealed the story. Both were taken into custody. The autopsy confirmed sexual assault,” DCP added. Police said the 13-year-old boy was booked for murder and rape under the IPC and provisions of the Pocso Act while his brother was booked under IPC section 201 for destruction of evidence.