Locals blocked the road demanding capital punishment for the culprits (File)
The Delhi Police on Wednesday transferred a case of alleged rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in the city's Old Nangal area to the Crime Branch, officials said.
The Delhi Police officer Chinmoy Biswal said the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch for an expeditious and scientific investigation.
The girl died under suspicious circumstances even as her parents alleged that she was raped and forcibly cremated by the crematorium priest in southwest Delhi's Old Nangal village. Only her burnt legs were recovered from the crematorium.
Based on the statement of the girl's mother, the rape charge was added to the FIR, the police said. Four people, including the priest, have been arrested.
Since Monday, agitated locals had blocked a stretch of road in the area demanding justice for the girl, who was allegedly raped and killed on Sunday.
The parents of the girl, along with several others, staged a sit-in near the site of the alleged crime on Tuesday and demanded capital punishment for the culprits.
The girl lived with her parents in a rented house in front of the crematorium. Around 5:30 pm Sunday, she went to get water from a cooler at the crematorium.
Around 6 pm, the crematorium's priest Radhey Shyam and two-three others called the girl's mother to the spot. Pointing out the girl's body to her mother, they claimed that she had got electrocuted while filling water from the cooler.
There were burn marks between her left wrist and elbow, and her lips were also blue.
The priest and the others dissuaded the girl's mother from calling the police, saying that the cops will make a case out of it and during the autopsy, doctors will steal the girl's organs, adding that the girl should rather be cremated.
Although she was cremated, her parents subsequently alleged that it was done without their consent. A crowd of around 200 villagers gathered at the crematorium and the police were called.