Kathua: One among the four arrested Policemen involved in the brutal rape and murder of eight-year-old Muslim nomadic is a local policeman Deepak Khajuria who is believed to be the active participant in the brutal crime.
Accused Deepak was due to get married to his 24-year-old fiancé Renu Sharma who now eagerly waits to meet the man currently in district jail she thought stepped out of her dreams after getting engaged to 28-year-old Deepak Khajuria last year in December, Hindustan Times reported.
The postgraduate student said, “I will look him in the eye and ask him if he really committed the crime. I know he will be truthful to me. If he denies it, I am willing to wait forever until he returns. If not, I will ask my parents to look for another match.”
But his fiancé has been denied the opportunity of visiting him in the jail. “It won’t be appropriate to let her visit the jail. I myself haven’t visited my son,” said Darshana Devi, Khajuria’s mother.
According to the charge sheet submitted by the crime branch, Khajuria wanted to rape the girl, “one last time” before she was killed. He also allegedly tried to strangle her to death by placing her neck on his knees but failed to kill her.
However, the fiancé’s opinion is different basing on her phone conversation since the two were engaged she does not believe Khajuria could do something like this horrific to a minor child.
“I have seen him only once and from a distance, on the day of our engagement. But we spoke over the phone and he did not come across as a man that the police have portrayed. He had requested that we chat over video, but I had refused. He did not insist,” she recalls.
“I don’t know the reality. The truth will come out only if the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probes the case,” said Sharma.
Khajuria was working as a local policeman in Hiranagar Police station . he had joined the police force four years ago and was attached as a special police officer (SPO). Proud son of a Policeman this man drove a Royal Enfield in the nearby villagers.
According to the sources, this man was bold to pick fights with the Muslim Bakarwals and always got into verbal confrontations.
His sister Shivani recalls a similar instance where she said, “a few months ago, some Bakarwal women had brought their goats to graze in our fields. When Khajuria objected, they got into a verbal confrontation with him.”
And the other confrontation took place the very next day on January 18 a day after her dead body was found. The Bakarwals were protesting against the rape-murder of Kathua victim.
His mother alleges his son was framed. She said, “As part of his duty, Khajuria was asking the protesters not to block the road. They responded by snatching his motorcycle key. The protesters’ leader had set his eyes on him then and got him framed.”
According to a senior crime branch officer who wants to stay anonymous said: “Khajuria was the one who roped in a 15-year-old boy to kidnap the girl. He had promised to help him cheat in his board exams in return.”