Bhandara, Maharashtra:
The headmaster of a school in Bhandara, Maharashtra where the three minor sisters, who were raped and murdered last week, studied has been suspended. The girls went missing from the school, not turning up for midday meals but, it is alleged, he did not inform the family or the police.
It has been a week since the bodies of the girls - aged five, nine and 11 - were found in a well last Saturday. No arrests have been made.
Former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari today met the mother of the girls at her home in Lakhni village in Bhandara.
She wants death sentence for the culprits. "There is no point in leaving the culprits alive. They should be arrested and hanged in front of people for this heinous crime," she told NDTV yesterday.
Top police officers are monitoring the investigation and have offered a reward of Rs 50,000 for anyone who helps them make arrests in the case. But the villagers allege the police had initially refused to even register a complaint and police officials admit they failed to gauge the grievousness of the crime.
The grandfather of the girls recalls how his 11-year old granddaughter had gone to fetch her younger sisters from school on February 14. He thought they were coming home "but someone took them away". Their bodies were found two days later.