Missing minor girl’s mutilated body recovered in Jamshedpur; stepfather detained

The body, with a hand severed, was recovered from a bush on the river banks under Sonari police station in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur on Wednesday, two days after she was reported missing by her mother

The body of a minor girl (5), who was reported missing since Monday, was recovered from a bush on the bank of the Subarnarekha river under the jurisdiction of Sonari police station in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur town on Wednesday.

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The young girl’s mutilated body, including a severed hand and without any clothes, carried several injury marks of purported cigarette burns, the police said.

Her mother had lodged a complaint with the police on Monday, alleging that her daughter might have been raped before being killed.

“A mutilated body of a five-year-old girl has been recovered by Sonari police station authorities from the Subarnarekha river bank near Marine Drive on Wednesday morning. We are interrogating her stepfather, who has been detained. She was last seen with him three days ago. Prima facie, abrasion marks on her neck indicate that strangulation may have caused her death. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. The autopsy will conclusively ascertain whether she was raped before her murder,” said Dr M Tamil Vanan, senior superintendent of police (SSP), East Singhbhum district.

Police said the girl’s stepfather was picked up after preliminary investigation found that she was last seen with him three days ago. “He had a dispute with the girl’s mother over her custody. We are confident of cracking the case and the perpetrator will be arrested soon,” the SSP added.

The victim’s maternal uncle Santosh Kumar said the girl and her mother had been staying with him. “I had gone out for work, when she went missing on Monday. Her mother had filed the complaint on the same day. The body belongs to my niece,” he said.

This was the second case of a minor girl being murdered and dumped in a secluded place with her body parts cut off in Jharkhand’s Kolhan administrative division.

Earlier on August 28, the beheaded body of another minor girl (15) was recovered from Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district.