Ahmedabad Crime Branch Arrests 3 in Surat Minor Rape Case

The 11-year-old girl’s mutilated body was found near a cricket ground in the Bhestan area of Surat on 6 April.

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(Photo: The Quint)

Three persons, two in Surat, Gujarat and one in Gangapur, Rajasthan have been arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in the rape, torture, and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Surat, who was found with 86 injury marks on her body.

The technical team of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch was roped in to solve the case as the identity of the girl could not be ascertained.

According to sources, the 11-year-old girl hails from Rajasthan and was sold as a bonded labourer along with her mother for Rs 30,000-35,000. The mother-daughter duo worked at a construction site at Kamrej, on the outskirts of Surat. According to sources, the accused in the murder are also in the construction business. But there was another murder to be discovered.

On 9 April, a few days after the girl’s body was found, the almost-decomposed body of an adult woman was also discovered in the same area. DNA tests are yet to reveal whether the woman is the girl’s mother. 

Sources say the girl was kidnapped seven days before her body was dumped in Surat. It can be seen that she was tortured for seven days, as her body is covered with blade-induced injury marks. According to the post-mortem report, she was raped and penetrated up to the uterus. Foreign objects were inserted into her private parts and she was later strangulated to death.

A Suspicious Chevrolet

Looking into the case, the crime branch team accessed local CCTV footage and spotted a black Chevrolet Spark in the vicinity where the girl’s body was dumped, in Bhestan area. Based on the 54 seconds of footage, the crime branch tracked down the car and found that it belonged to a certain Ram Naresh, a resident of Bhestan.

During interrogation, Ram Naresh said that two days before the girl’s body was found, his neighbour Harsh Sahai Gurjar borrowed the car from him and returned it the next morning at 4:30 am.

He claimed that when he asked Harsh why he needed the car, the latter claimed that a girl living with him had died and that he needed the car to transport her body. Based on this information, the cops arrested two persons, Harisinh Gurjar and Amarsinh Gurjar – both cousins of Harsh Sahai.

‘A Needle In a Haystack’

The main accused, Harsh Sahai, had meanwhile fled to Gangapur in Rajasthan. But the Ahmedabad Crime Branch has now arrested him, and he is being brought back to the Gujarat.

Gujarat Minister for State (Home) Pradeepsinh Jadeja held a press conference in Gandhinagar where he debriefed the media on the status of the case.

Solving this case was like finding a needle in the haystack. Only a DNA test will confirm if the dead woman and child are related or not. The modus operandi of the crime will be revealed once the interrogation in the case concludes. A special public prosecutor will be appointed, and the case will be heard in a fast-track court.

Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Gujarat Minister for State (Home)

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