Accused Drank Beer, Smoked Cigs Near Dead Body Of Girl After Allegedly Raping Her In Pilibhit

Last week, a teen girl was found dead in a village under the Barkhera police station limits of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

Reports suggest that the girl went missing when she had stepped out of home for coaching classes.

When the teenager did not return home during the night, her family members launched a search for her and also informed the police. The coaching centre informed them that she had not come to class on Saturday.

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The girl's naked body was recovered from a sugarcane field near her village. Her father, a sanitation worker, identified the body.

Beer bottles, snacks & cigarette butts found from the spot

There were a number of injury marks on her body, including genitals, and a piece of cloth was found stuffed into her mouth, police said. Her books, bag, cycle and shoes were found lying a few metres away from the body, sparking rape suspicion.

The police recovered four beer bottles, snacks and cigarette butts from the site.

A piece of her suit was stuck to her mouth and she was apparently strangled to death using her dupatta. There were injuries on her face, possibly caused by sharp sugarcane leaves, which seemed to indicate the hours of struggle that she put up.

The family members of the minor have alleged that she was gangraped. Police said all angles, including that of gang rape, are being probed and it cannot be ruled out.

Six people detained for questioning

The police have detained six people and are currently being interrogated.

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Pilibhit Superintendent of Police (SP), Dinesh Kumar, said ¡°Soon after recovering the body, we had secured the crime scene and forensic experts were called to gather evidence. The girl had injuries on her face, neck, and below her abdomen. We have included the section on rape in the FIR based on the complaint of the family. However, the autopsy will verify the allegations of sexual assault. Four teams are working on the case, and a few suspects have been detained. A breakthrough is likely soon."

Based on the complaint of the family members, a case has been registered against one named accused and five other unidentified people under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

The body of the deceased has been sent for post-mortem examination.