12-yearMinor girl raped and murdered near a pond in Madhya Pradesh

INDORE Jan 16, 2015 Agencies : n a savage incident, a 12-year-old tribal girl was allegedly raped and then brutally murdered before being buried in a ditch in Mindal village of tribal dominated Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.The girl who went missing on Thursday evening was found brutally murdered and her body buried in a ditch on the edge of a pond outside her native Mindal village on Friday morning.A resident of Mindal village (120 km from Indore) the girl lived with grandfather in a hut, as her parents worked at construction sites in adjoining Gujarat.She left her hut to graze goats and collect cow dung cakes at around 4pm on Thursday, but didn't return for around 2 hours, after which the villagers started searching her.The Jhabua police also joined the search, after which the girl's clothes and slippers were found near the pond on village outskirts. But despite efforts, the girl couldn't be tracked.The search



operation was revived on Friday morning and immediately yielded result, as the minor's blood stained undergarments were found near a ditch on the pond's edge.Subsequently the girl's body was dug out of the ditch and a blood stained stone too was found near the same ditch. With blood stains also present on the minor's private parts, the police suspected that the girl was first raped and then brutally killed by smashing her head with a stone."Primary circumstantial evidence suggests that more than one person has committed the heinous crime. The girl's body has been sent for autopsy and further investigations are underway," sub divisional officer police (SDOP-Jhabua) Rachna Bhadoria told TOI.Investigations suggest that perpetrators of the brutality might well have been recognised by the minor, owing to which she was killed brutally.Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.