C'garh: Girl raped, killed, her 2 kin also murdered; 6 accused held

A 16-year-old girl was allegedlyraped and smashed to death with stones in Korba district ofChhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday.

The accused allegedly also killed the girl's fatherand his four-year-old granddaughter, who were along with her,they said.

The incident occurred near Gadhuproda village underLemru police station area on January 29, but came to light onTuesday, following which six accused were arrested in thisconnection, Korba Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meenasaid.

The accused were identified as Santram Majhwar (45),Abdul Jabbar (29), Anil Kumar Sarthi (20), Pardeshi Ram Panika(35), Anand Ram Panika (25) and Uamshankar Yadav (21), allnatives of Satrenga village in the district, he said.

''The deceased man, a resident of Barpani village, hadbeen working as a cattle grazer at the house of prime accusedManjhwar since July last year,'' he said.

As per the preliminary information, Manjhwar was goingto drop the man, his daughter (16) and granddaughter (4) totheir village on his motorcycle on January 29.

On the way, they stopped at Korai village and Manjhwarconsumed liquor, following which other accused also joinedhim, he said.

The accused took the three victims to the foot of ahill surrounded by forest near Gadhuproda, where Manjhwar andanother accused allegedly raped the teenage girl.

They smashed all the victims with stones and sticksand dumped them in the forest before fleeing from the spot, hesaid.

''When the deceased man's son lodged their missingreport at Lemru police station on Tuesday, police swung intoaction and rounded up six accused following theirinterrogation,'' he said.

Based on the statement of the accused, police reachedthe crime spot, where they found the injured rape victim aliveand two others dead.

She was immediately rushed to a local hospital, butsuccumbed to her injuries before reaching there, he said.

The victims belonged to Pahadi Korwa tribal community,a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), police said.

The accused were booked under sections IPC sections302 (murder), 376 (2)G (gangrape) and provisions of theScheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities)Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)Act, he added.