Kolkata, July 7 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of West Bengal Police probing the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl child at Baruipur in South 24 Paragans district, has identified an abandoned thatched hut close to the pond from where the body of the minor victim was recovered on Sunday, as the probable “scene of crime”.

Insiders from the Baruipur district police, under whose jurisdiction, the pond and the probable scene of crime come, said preliminary investigation on the basis of the interrogation of the arrested accused in the case had indicated the crime was committed within that abandoned hut and thereafter the girl was dumped in the nearby pond.

Even the dumping of the girl, the insider added, was done in a cold-hearted manner, where the minor girl who had suffered grievous injuries to her head and private parts was first put into a sack and then the mouth of the sack was tied tightly with a metal wire to prevent her from escaping.

The preliminary autopsy report had also indicated that the minor victim was still alive when her body was being dumped into the pond and the dumping was done to ensure her death and destruction of evidence.

Based on the initial autopsy report, the investigating sleuths are of the opinion that the minor girl probably became unconscious due to rape, torture and injuries.

She was thrown into the pond in that condition and the death was a result of a combination of the twin factors of severe injuries and drowning.

Investigators further claim that after removing the girl’s body from the hut and dumping it into the pond, the three accused fled the scene through separate routes.

The investigating officials are still reluctant to divulge further details on the progress of the investigation till the time the final autopsy and the forensic reports confirming the crime of rape and murder as well as the detailed causes of death are available.

–IANS

src/rad