"Delhi Cantt Minor Rape Victim Died Due To Suffocation During Assault; Accused Presence At Crime Scene Ascertained": Police Tells Delhi Court

In a major development in the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 9-years-old girl in Delhi Cantt area, the police has informed a City Court that the minor victim died due to suffocation during assualt by accused persons and that their presence at the crime scene has been ascertained by way of CCTV footages and CDR available on record.

In the reply filed by the Investigating Officer, reliance has been placed on disclosure statements of co-accused persons stating that accused Radhey Shyam and Kuldeep Singh had made the victim lie and raped her during which Radhey Shyam had kept his hand on her mouth, resulting to her death by suffocation.

Additional Sessions Judge Ashutosh Kumar has further been informed that the accused were seen by Prosecution witnesses and the same has been corroborated in their statements recorded under Section 161 and 164 CrPC.

The police has also informed the Court that all the four accused persons had gathered at the crematorium ground with a common intention to cremate the victim's dead body, in order to eliminate evidence of her rape and murder.

Additionally, it has also been stated that the mobile search history of accused Radhey Shyam revealed that he was "addicted to porn content and sexually arousing material".

During the course of hearing on Tuesday, the Court ordered additional interim compensation of Rs. 2,50,000 in favour of victim's mother under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme, 2018.

Delhi Police had registered a case against four accused namely Kuldeep Singh, Laxmi Narayan, Radhey Shyam and Salim Ahmad on the basis of the statement of the minor's mother who alleged that her daughter was raped, murdered and cremated without their consent. The four are presently under judicial custody.

The accused persons have been booked under Sections 302, 304, 376, 341, 506, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section. 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 3 of SC/ST Act.

The High Court had recently sought status report on investigation after the victim's parents approached it seeking Court monitored SIT investigation and judicial enquiry into alleged lapses in administrative action, delayed filing of FIR.

A Delhi Court had earlier ordered Rs. 2.5 lakh interim compensation to the victim's family after an application was moved under Section 357A of CrPC.

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Case Title: State v. Radhey Shyam & Ors.