Maha: Girl brutally raped, killed; Cong for CM’s resignation

A 15-year-old girl was brutally raped allegedly by three men who inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her in Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district, sparking outrage as well as political slugfest with the Congress demanding Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ resignation on “moral grounds”.

All three accused, Jitendra Shinde, Santosh Bhaval and Nitin Dhailume, were arrested by the local crime branch after the incident occurred on July 13, police said on Sunday.

According to police, the deceased was a student of class IX. “The incident took place on July 13 between 6.45 pm and 7.30 pm when the 15-year-old victim was returning after meeting her grandfather. She was accosted by three persons, who gangraped her violently before throttling her to death. Her both shoulders were found to be dislocated,” said Ahmednagar SP Saurabh Tripathi.He said Shinde alias ‘Pappu’ was arrested on July 14 while the other two accused were held later. 

Giving details about the incident, another police officer said in Ahmednagar that the trio (Shinde and two others) were consuming liquor under a tree to celebrate purchase of new motorcycle by Shinde when they saw the girl passing by.

“The complainant, Shivram Sudrik, stated that he saw Shinde with the girl who was lying behind a tree. The girl had wounds all over her naked body and blood was oozing from her nose. 

“When he (Sudrik) tried to catch Shinde, the latter pushed him and fled. The villagers then rushed the girl to public health centre in Kuldharan in the district, where the doctors declared her brought dead. Her autopsy was conducted on Thursday. As per the postmortem report, her limbs were found to be broken,” the officer said. 

He said Shinde is a brick kiln worker and used to stalk the girl. The accused were booked under IPC sections 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (murder) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The district collector has announced ex gratia of Rs 3 lakh to the family of the deceased and handed over a cheque.