Kathua rape case: This J&K Police team is winning praise for tracking the criminals

As the justice is finally delivered in the gory rape and murder case of an eight-year-old nomadic Muslim girl from the Rasana village of Kathua district in Jammu, the internet is all praises for this Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the J&K Police who cracked the case two months after the heinous crime was committed.

The SIT constituted by the Crime Branch, J&K Police, included Inspector Generals of Police (IGPs) of Crime, Aloke Puri and Syed Ahfadul Mujtaba, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Crime Branch Jammu Ramesh Kumar Jalla Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) Crime Naveed Pirzada,  Deputy SP Shwetambri, Sub Inspector Irfan Wani, Inspector KK Gupta and Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Tariq Ahmad.

The police officers reached to the core of the case and helped track the accused despite the political influence exerted by some local BJP leaders from Jammu in support of rapists. The SIT which comprised of a female DySP who belonged to the same Brahmin Hindu community as that of the accused conducted her duty with dignity.

After the body of the minor girl was recovered from the forests of Rasana on January 17, a week after the incident, the investigation conducted by the J&K Police led to the chief suspect and temple priest, Sanjhi Ram.

The families of the seven accused, which also included three local police personnel, pleaded that they were being framed and even took out a rally with the support of the politicians in favour of the criminals. However, the police officers did not succumb to any such pressure and carried out their duties in the best professional manner.

Chilling details of the police chargesheet

The SIT submitted the chargesheet on April 9, two months after it was assigned the task of investigations into the rape and murder case. The two separate chargesheet filed by the SIT revealed a horrific tale of events committed by the eight accused which led to the rape and murder of the girl.

The chargesheet said that Sanjhi Ram, who was the local temple priest, hatched the plot of kidnapping and raping the girl from minority nomadic Muslim community to drive them out of the village. He asked his nephew who is believed to be a juvenile to lure the girl into the nearby forest from where she was kept in the temple prayer hall (Devisthan).

The little girl was then drugged with sedatives and raped by the juvenile. Another accused, Mannu, also tried to rape her but she fell unconscious. A few days later, Sanjhi Ram roped in local police officers including Deepak Khajuria, Tilak Raj and Surender who were searching for the girl when her family lodged a missing person report.

Sanjhi Ram promised the local police officers that he would pay them a handsome bribe so that the crime doesn't come out in open especially to the concerned sub-Inspector, Anand Dutta. Finally when the deal was settled, one of the police officers, Deepak Khajuria asked Sanjhi Ram to let him rape the girl for one last time before she is killed.

Deepak and the juvenile again raped the girl and then strangled her. The juvenile ensured that the minor victim was dead by hitting her head with the stone twice.