Srinagar: Last month, when a nomad family from Kathua district, 80 kilometres away from Jammu, filed a missing report for their 8-year-old daughter, among those appointed to trace her was a young Special Police Officer (SPO) called Deepak Khujaria. A week later, police found her body - she had been brutally raped and murdered. Now, the police say, it was the same officer who carried out the crime.
The little girl was kidnapped when she was herding horses at Rasana village on January 10. Her disfigured body was found on January 17.
"We have clinching evidence about his (Deepak Khajuria's) involvement. There was motive and we have evidence as well," said Alok Puri, the Additional Director General of Police, Crime Branch Jammu and Kashmir.
Khujaria was part of a police team that had searched the area after the nomad family filed a missing report at police station at Heera Nagar. When members of the nomad community held a sit-in protest demanding justice on January 21, the girl's family said, it was Khujaria who started hitting them with batons. Several people were injured in the police action.
Nomads who have been fighting for justice for the girl say that from the first day, they knew who was behind the crime.
Earlier, a juvenile was arrested in the case. But after allegations of a botched up investigation against the Kathua Police, the case was handed to over to the Crime Branch. Sources say Deepak had threatened his underage accomplice with the murder of his parents if he revealed his name. Mr Puri said the involvement of more people cannot be ruled out.
The little girl was kidnapped when she was herding horses at Rasana village on January 10. Her disfigured body was found on January 17.
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"We have clinching evidence about his (Deepak Khajuria's) involvement. There was motive and we have evidence as well," said Alok Puri, the Additional Director General of Police, Crime Branch Jammu and Kashmir.
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Khujaria was part of a police team that had searched the area after the nomad family filed a missing report at police station at Heera Nagar. When members of the nomad community held a sit-in protest demanding justice on January 21, the girl's family said, it was Khujaria who started hitting them with batons. Several people were injured in the police action.
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Nomads who have been fighting for justice for the girl say that from the first day, they knew who was behind the crime.
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Earlier, a juvenile was arrested in the case. But after allegations of a botched up investigation against the Kathua Police, the case was handed to over to the Crime Branch. Sources say Deepak had threatened his underage accomplice with the murder of his parents if he revealed his name. Mr Puri said the involvement of more people cannot be ruled out.
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