Srinagar: The main accused in murder & rape of a minor 8-year old nomadic girl from Kathua in Jammu Kashmir, who was previously considered to be a Juvenile, is over 19 years old confirmed a medical board based on the culprits physical, dental, radiology reports.
The victim was kidnapped on 10 January and held hostage for a week before she was murdered and thrown away in a forest area. Her body was recovered on 17 January.
The State Crime branch who is probing the murder case revealed there are yet to arrest a former bureaucrat-the mastermind of the murder.
Jammu and Kashmir’s High Court had ordered to set up a medical board to determine the age of the accused who was believed to be 15 years old after the investigating authorities received relevant documents about the accused’s age.
The physical, dental and radiological reports of the accused confirmed he is an adult above 19 years.
According to Crime Branch’s reports, 60-year-old retired revenue officer Sanji Ram is the mastermind behind the rape and murder of the nomad child to evacuate the settled Muslim nomad families from Jammu’s Rasana village. He had allegedly “motivated” Deepak Khajuria, a Special Police Officer and the 19-year-old main accused to carry out the crime.
The investigating officers also revealed the pieces of evidence have been tampered before sending to the forensic laboratory.
Two special Police officers and two other police officials were arrested in the for tampering the evidence. One of them, a sub-Inspector is accused of destroying evidence by washing the blood-soaked clothes of the child before sending them for the test.
Hindu Ekta Manch and BJP’s state ministers had demanded the case to be transferred from the State Police to the CBI.
The Muslim nomad families settled in Rasana village allege that the Crime Branch has ceded to the Political pressure and is deliberately avoiding the arrest of Mr Ram.
“Why has the Crime Branch not arrested Sanji Ram when they say he’s the mastermind? All the protests are taking place to shield him. This shows the direction where the probe is headed,” said Talib Hussain, a nomad activist, NDTV reported.