SRINAGAR: In a major twist to the Kathua rape and murder case of an eight-year-old, it has come to the fore that the main accused, Sanji Ram decided to get the minor girl killed to protect his son.
The police probing the case have said on Friday that Sanji Ram during interrogation admitted in front of the investigators that he found out about the rape after the minor’s abduction and decided to kill her because his son Vishal was also involved in the sexual assault.
The Muslim minor from the Bakarwal community was first raped by Ram’s nephew, the same day she was kidnapped.
Also, she was kept in a ‘devisthan’, a small temple, where Ram was the custodian, informed the investigators to a leading press agency.
According to the investigators, Sanjhi claims that he learnt about the rape only on January 13 after his underage nephew confessed to him and it was then he decided “that time was ripe to kill the girl so as to achieve the ultimate goal” of scaring and driving away the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities from the Hindu dominated area.
The girl, who belonged to a nomadic Muslim tribe, was allegedly abducted on January 10 and sedated with ‘manar’, gang-raped, tortured and was killed on January 14. The victim’s body was found on January 17 in a forest.
The juvenile, Vishal, SPOs Khajuria and friend Mannu lifted the body to disposed it off at a nearby canal but bring it back to the ‘devisthan’ due to non-availability of the vehicle, the charge sheet said.
Ankur Sharma, Sanjhi Ram’s lawyer refused to comment on the investigators’ version saying, “At least the defence lawyer should not be commenting on the merits of the case. It is like leaking your strategy as a defence lawyer,” he said.