An 11-year-old Hindu Brahmin girl living in a small village in the Gilaula region of Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh was abducted, raped, and then murdered in a terrible episode that shocked the entire community in the state. The accused, Sheel Kumar, is known to the family and has been nabbed by the police.
It is being reported by a section of media that his actual name is Muzaffar Ali, and he had been residing in the area for around 20 years using the Hindu identity Sheel Kumar.
The Police have arrested the accused and charged him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder) and 376(A) (rape), along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The villagers suspect that the accused originally hails from Bangladesh.
According to the reports, the little girl was allegedly abducted on Saturday and taken to an isolated spot by the accused, where she was raped. After raping her, he brutally strangled the girl to death, trying to hide his crime. He then stuffed the dead body into a sack and then hid it in a bush close to the bank of a canal in Mirchiha village, which falls under the Payagpur police station.
The incident was discovered after the girl failed to get home for an extended period of time. After the girl was not found, the father of the victim filed a complaint against Sheel Kumar and his family at the Gilola police station, accusing them of abduction. The father said that the accused had come to their house at around 1-1.30 PM on Saturday and took the girl with him on some pretext. However, she didn’t return for a long time after that, and therefore it was suspected that Sheel Kumar abducted and did something with her.
The cops took began an investigation after filing a case based on the complaint. Police were able to track down and arrest the suspect in the Buddhist circuit, close to Parevpur. During questioning, the accused confessed to the crime. Based on his statement, police recovered the body of the minor girl.
Reportedly, after the arrest, it was also revealed in the police probe that Sheel Kumar’s actual name is Muzaffar Ali, and he had been living in the village for around 20 years using a Hindu identity. According to the villagers, Ram Pheran married a woman from West Bengal in 2005 after his first wife died. Sheel Kumar was the five-old son of that woman who came to the village along with her.
The Village Pradhan expressed shock and outrage about the occurrence, and after learning that the accused had been residing in the village for two decades, with a Hindu identity despite being a Muslim. The community was in disbelief when the accused’s actual identity was made public.
At present, the accused has been arrested and has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder) and 376(A) (rape), along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
