Hazaribagh double murder: Accused held for killing minor siblings after rape attempt

Hazaribagh (IANS): The Jharkhand Police solved the murder of a 14-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother in Hazaribagh district and arrested the main accused, Sanjit Paswan, officials said on Wednesday.

Investigations revealed that the accused had attempted to rape the girl and killed both children when she resisted. During questioning, Paswan confessed that on May 27, he lured the siblings on his scooter on the pretext of taking them for a ride and buying a mobile phone, and took them to a cremation ground in Sindoor village under the Korra police station area of Hazaribagh.

At the isolated spot, he tried to sexually assault the girl. When she resisted and raised an alarm, he killed her. Fearing that the crime would be exposed, he also strangled her three-year-old brother and dumped both bodies in a nearby well after packing them in a sack.

The children’s father, Mohammed Aamir, who sells toys, had lodged a missing persons complaint at Katkamdag police station. Given the seriousness of the case, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed under the supervision of Additional SP (Operations) Amit Kumar.

The girl’s body was recovered from the cremation ground on May 31. The next day, the body of her younger brother was found in a well about 500 metres away with the help of forensic and dog squads. The post-mortem was conducted under a medical board’s supervision.

CCTV footage proved to be a crucial lead, showing a man taking the siblings on a scooter. Based on technical and scientific evidence, he was identified as Sanjit Paswan, an employee at a vehicle showroom.

The SIT arrested him on Wednesday while he was attempting to flee the district. Police also recovered the scooter used in the crime and the sack in which the boy’s body was hidden.