Probe Into Surat Rape Case Finds That 11-YO Victim And Her Mother Were Sold For Just Rs 35,000

Ahmedabad police crime branch on Friday claimed to have cracked the case of rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, whose body had been recovered in Surat on April 6, by arresting the prime accused from Rajasthan. During preliminary probes, it was found that the girl and her widowed mother ¡ª from Gangapur in Rajasthan ¡ª had been bought by the accused for just Rs 35,000 to be used as bonded labourers.

Reuters

The recovery of the girl¡¯s body having 87 injury marks, including severe ones in her private parts inflicted by sticklike object, sent shockwaves and triggered widespread outrage across the country. Harsayai Gurjar (35) was arrested from Gangapur in Rajasthan¡¯s Sawai Madhopur district, while three others, including Harsayai¡¯s brother Harisinh, and two other brothers ¡ª Naresh and Amarsinh Gurjar ¡ª were detained on Friday, crime branch officials said.

ALSO READ: Gujarat Gets Its Own Asifa? 11-YO Girl Held Captive & Raped In Surat. Body Found With 86 Injuries.

Harsayai and Harsinh, from Gangapur, are labour contractors in marble units in Surat, while Naresh and Amarsinh work for them, police added. On March 15, Harsayai, a father of two, had bought the girl and her widowed mother from a man in Gangapur by paying him Rs 35,000 to be used as bonded labourers, police said.

AFP

Harsayai started raping the mother and the girl who lived in a room of his three-storey house in Surat, police said, adding he wanted to kill the mother for objecting to his advances.

The mother went missing on March 20 after which Harsayai kept the girl confined in Harisinh¡¯s room who was then in Gangapur. DCP, crime branch, Deepan Bhadran, said, ¡°For several days, Harsayai raped and tortured the girl. On April 5, he strangulated her to death as it was getting difficult to confine her anymore.¡±

AFP

Kiran Chaudhary, inspector, crime branch, told TOI: ¡°On April 5, Harsayai took put body in the car and dumped it in the bushes on the Jiav-Budiya Road around 1.5km-2km from his house. When he returned home, Naresh questioned him. Harsayai told him that he had killed the girl and threatened to kill him also if he revealed anything.¡±

¡°From CCTV footages, police seized the car, traced its owner and reached Harisinh, who said his brother could be behind the crime. Harsayai was arrested from Gangapur on Friday,¡± Pradipsinh Jadeja, junior home minister of Gujarat, told reporters.

The crime branch was roped in for investigation on April 15 following Gujarat police failure to get any leads either in establishing the identity of the girl or getting a clue of the culprits. On April 10, police had found the decomposed body of a woman on the Jiav-Budiya Road.