Bhandara case: Cop suspended for unprofessional behaviour

The police investigation into the rape and murder of three minor sisters at Murmadi village in Bhandara district of Maharashtra has not made headway even after a fortnight. The post-mortem report had said that the girls, aged six, nine and eleven years, were raped and murdered. However, sources close to the investigation claim that they were not raped.

A recent forensic analysis report also showed that the girls were neither strangulated nor poisoned but failed to pinpoint the cause of the deaths. Bhandara Superintendent of Police Dr Arti Singh could not be contacted for confirmation of these reports. On Thursday, a team of National Commission for Women had visited the victims' family members at the village. The team observed that despite the outrage over the incident in the village, no witnesses has come forward.

The team also expressed displeasure about the investigation and called it "insensitive".

Smita Singhalkar, a member of the team, said that it was unfortunate there were no witnesses as the crime site was only two km off a national highway. The three sisters, who were studying in a local school, had gone missing on February 14 and their bodies were recovered from a well in the village on February 16.

Political leaders are making a beeline to meet the victims' family.

Home Minister R R Patil and Union Minister Praful Patel had earlier visited the village. Shiv Sena youth wing president Aditya Thackeray, and Sena leaders Vinayak Raut, Deepak Sawant, Neelam Gorhe and Ashish Jaiswal visited the family last evening.

The police have questioned over 100 persons so far. Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal and Additional DGP Javed Ahmed flew into Nagpur on Friday and left for the village. They held a meeting with the senior police officials and reviewed the investigation. This was Ahmed's second visit within a week.

The police investigation into the rape and murder of three minor sisters at Murmadi village in Bhandara district of Maharashtra has not made headway even after a fortnight. The post-mortem report had said that the girls, aged six, nine and eleven years, were raped and murdered. However, sources close to the investigation claim that they were not raped.

A recent forensic analysis report also showed that the girls were neither strangulated nor poisoned but failed to pinpoint the cause of the deaths. Bhandara Superintendent of Police Dr Arti Singh could not be contacted for confirmation of these reports. On Thursday, a team of National Commission for Women had visited the victims' family members at the village. The team observed that despite the outrage over the incident in the village, no witnesses has come forward.

The team also expressed displeasure about the investigation and called it "insensitive".

Smita Singhalkar, a member of the team, said that it was unfortunate there were no witnesses as the crime site was only two km off a national highway. The three sisters, who were studying in a local school, had gone missing on February 14 and their bodies were recovered from a well in the village on February 16.

Political leaders are making a beeline to meet the victims' family.

Home Minister R R Patil and Union Minister Praful Patel had earlier visited the village. Shiv Sena youth wing president Aditya Thackeray, and Sena leaders Vinayak Raut, Deepak Sawant, Neelam Gorhe and Ashish Jaiswal visited the family last evening.

The police have questioned over 100 persons so far. Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal and Additional DGP Javed Ahmed flew into Nagpur on Friday and left for the village. They held a meeting with the senior police officials and reviewed the investigation. This was Ahmed's second visit within a week.

Expressing shock over the Bhandara rape incident, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday said the police official who did not deal with the complainant promptly and professionally has been suspended.

"I am deeply shocked at the despicable, ghastly and brutal manner in which three minor girls from the same family were brutally raped and murdered and then thrown into an abandoned well near Murwadi village, Lakhani Police Station, Bhandara District of Maharashtra. I am sure that the collective conscience of all the Members of the House would be equally revolted to know about this horrendous incident," said Shinde in a statement made in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of rape incident in Bhandara District of Maharashtra.

“The police officers and men intensified patrolling in the police station area on the 15th and 16th February to trace the missing girls. On the 16th February, at 17.20 hours, Prabhakar Baburao Chole called the local police station and informed that he noticed bodies of three girls floating in the well in the farm. After an inquest by the Taluka Magistrate, Lakhani a post-mortem was conducted by a team of five doctors and it appears that all three deceased girls were subjected to sexual abuse and murdered before throwing them into the well.”

"The police have registered an FIR, vide CR No. 40/2013 u/s 302, 376, 201 IPC (Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2013) read with u/s 4, 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

“Police Inspector, Prakash Mude, in-charge of the police station was suspended on 19th February as he did not deal with the complainant promptly and professionally,” Shinde said.