Accused went missing after taking informal custody of 9-year-old from her biological parents; cops say he disposed of her body at Kasara Ghat in a drum filled with concrete; wife, truck driver held
Accused's residence in Uttan
Yet another gruesome murder has taken the life of a child. A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by her 'adoptive father', buried in a drum filled with cement, which then was thrown into the Kasara Ghat. The drum and the girl's body were recovered by the Uttan Sagari police on Wednesday. The girl's mother lost her husband a year ago.
She has three more kids — two daughters and a son — and lives with her in-laws in Aurangabad. In June 2019, Prakash Rathod, her cousin, approached her saying he could take one of her daughters to Thane and enrol her in a school.
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"Prakash said if the daughter manages to adjust in the city, he will enrol her in a school," said an officer from Uttan Sagari police station which falls in the jurisdiction of Thane rural.
The tempo in which the girl’s body was taken to Kasara Ghat for disposal. Pics/Hanif Patel
After taking the nine-year-old with him a little before Diwali, Prakash was in touch with her mother for a month but later stopped communicating. The family was never able to reach him on the phone either. The worried mother had a word with her family and rushed to Kannad rural police station. She was told to go to Uttan which is located near Mira-Bhayandar. The family reached Uttan on December 4 and registered a kidnapping complaint.
Then the cops and the girl's family reached Rathod's residence in Uttan but he was nowhere to be found and nor was the girl. "During the investigation, we spoke to the accused's wife. During questioning, she spilled the beans on her husband having hit the girl and having hired a tempo on the pretext of transporting something to his hometown. We then tracked down the tempo driver, who revealed that Rathod had brought along a metal drum, which he threw in Kasara Ghat," said another officer.
Police suspect that the murder was a consequence of either sexual assault or human sacrifice. Deputy Superintendent of Thane (Rural) Sanjay Kumar confirmed that they have recovered a metal drum from Kasara Ghat, inside which, a girl was found buried in cement mixture. The cement mixture was broken and the body of girl child and her clothes have been recovered. Police are going to send samples from the remains for DNA analysis. Two people, the tempo driver and Rathod's wife, have been arrested.
Dec 4
Day the girl's family approached Uttan Sagari police
June
Month this year when Prakash approached the deceased's mother saying he can take one of her daughters to the city
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