Bhandara:
Temper is rising among residents in Bhandara after police failed to make any arrest six days after three minor sisters were brutally raped, murdered and thrown into a well.
The family of the girls is still in a state of shock and the locals allege that the cops are still not doing enough to nab the culprits.
In their modest house in Lakhni village, where the family of the girls live in abject poverty, their grandfather told reporters how his 11-year old granddaughter went to fetch her younger sisters, aged nine and five, after school. He thought they were coming home "but someone took them away".
"My granddaughters were probably lured away on the promise of chocolates or Kurkure. Please find them and hang them," he said.
The mother, a daily wage labourer who lost her husband four years ago, appeared too defeated to speak. She last saw her three daughters on February 14, the day the whole world celebrated One Billion Rising movement to fight violence against women.
Two days later, on the evening of February 16, the cops found the bodies of the three children in a well on the outskirts of the village, next to a roadside dhaba or eatery. Their tiny slippers were found next to empty liquor bottles.
The villagers allege that the cops first tried to describe the deaths as "accidental" and got serious about the investigation only after villagers protested on the streets. Anger spilled out on the streets on Wednesday with residents blocking the Nagpur-Raipur Road for four hours. "Everyone is afraid, we have stopped sending our children to school", said a local Sarpanch or village head.
A local police inspector has already been suspended for causing delay in filing a report. Bhandara's Superintendent of Police Aarti Singh explained the delay in investigation saying, "There were no external injuries on the bodies, so we did not suspect anything grievous. We have announced a reward of Rs. 50,000 to anyone who comes forward with information."
The police has formed six teams to pursue leads and detained three suspects so far. According to police sources, the accused might have lured the girls to a nearby fair.
Meanwhile the government has promised Rs 10 lakh compensation for the family. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has also asked Additional Director General (Law and Order) Ahmad Javed to visit the crime scene and inquire into the case.