Teen’s Body Exhumed for Rape Probe After Father Attempts Suicide

The father claims that he could not get the police to investigate his daughter’s rape and death.

Representative image of a crime scene.

(Photo: iStock)

A teen's body was exhumed in Chhattisgarh two months after she died by suicide after being allegedly raped by seven men at a wedding. This was done after the teen's father also tried to kill himself because he could not get the police to investigate the case.

The Chhattisgarh Police exhumed the body on Wednesday, 7 October, and arrested five of the seven accused.

The body, buried by her family on the outskirts of their village in Kondagaon district, has been dug up for an autopsy, said the police to NDTV.

"Two accused are still missing. A Special Investigation Team headed by Kondagaon Superintendent of Police Anand Sahu has been formed to look into the matter," said Bastar Inspector General P Sundarraj.

While girl's family claim that the incident happened in July, the police say that they were not informed till the local media highlighted the incident.

The girl's family has denied the charge.

"A day after the rape, when she was alone at home with her siblings, she hung herself. We brought her down and tried arranging for an ambulance, but she died. Since her parents were not in the village, we did not cremate her but buried her in everyone's presence. The police called us a few days later and said they are registering an FIR, but the accused continued to roam freely for months," the girl's uncle said.

Police say that two men dragged the girl to a forest where she was sexually assaulted by five others.

She returned home the next morning and died by suicide.

"Her body was exhumed from the grave on Wednesday for autopsy in presence of a police team and the tehsildar. A case of gang-rape has been registered", Sundarraj said.

He, however, also added that the reasons for the father's attempt at suicide were "not known".

(With inputs from NDTV)