KATHMANDU, Feb 21: Nine people wanted in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl from Nepal in East Champaran district of the Indian State of Bihar surrendered before a local court on Saturday, Indian media reported.
However, a police officer accused of complicity in attempts to bury the case is still at large, local police said.
According to Navin Chand Jha, superintendent of police (SP), East Champaran, all the accused have been sent to judicial custody after they surrendered at the court of additional chief judicial magistrate of Motihari.
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"The charges against all the accused have been proven to be correct in the course of investigation. We will take further appropriate legal action," Jha has been quoted by Hindustan Times newspaper as saying.
The case was registered on February 2 after the minor girl, staying in a rented house at Kundwa Chainpur in Sikarahana subdivision in East Champaran district was reported to have been gang-raped by four men on January 21 and later murdered at her accommodation.
The accused then allegedly connived with the then station house officer (SHO) Sanjeev Kumar to force the victim’s family to cremate her.
The whole plot surfaced after an audio clip with the voice of the SHO went viral, prompting his suspension. "The charges against ex-SHO Sanjeev Kumar have been found to be true in our investigation. He has already been made an accused in the case and is evading arrest," the SP has been further quoted as saying.
Accused Jai Prakash Sah, Hari Kishore Sah, Deepak Kumar Sah, Milan Sah, Ajay Sah, Ramesh Sah, Umesh Sah, Sunil Sah and Avnish Sah surrendered before the court on Saturday while the 10th accused Devendra Sah is still at large.
