KL Report
Srinagar
Police solved the murder of a Rafiabad girl by arresting her father. The father had killed the girl by choking her mouth and nose. This was stated by Deputy Inspector general of Police, North Kashmir, J. P Singh at a press conference at Dangiwacha. He was flanked by S.P Sopore, Mir Imtiyaz.
The DIG said that on June 14, 2013 at about 7:30 pm, Altaf Ahmad Rather son of Late Ghulam Muhammad Rather resident of Laiser Rafiabad along with his elder brother Muhammad Maqbool Rather reported in Police Station Dangiwacha, Sopore that his 7/8 yrs old daughter Muskan Altaf has been missing from her home since morning and they have been searching her in the village and around and also enquired from relatives but failed to trace her. On this a missing report was entered in Police Station Dangiwacha and search was started. In the process of search, on the next day throat slit body of the missing girl child was found in the apple orchard of one Abdul Aziz Rather son of Muhammad Ramzan in the outskirts of the village Laisar, Rafiabad . On the recovery of the throat slit dead body of the missing girl child aged 04 years only, case FIR number 40/2013 under section 302 RPC was registered in police station Dangiwacha as it was apparent that she had been murdered.
The DIG said that at the place of recovery of the dead body a sharp edged knife, a ten rupee currency note and an empty jute bag used to contain animal fodder were also recovered and preserved. The dead body of the victim was got examined by a team of doctors in District Hospital Baramulla and later on handed over to the family for last rites.
He said that a special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of Mushtaq Ahmad DY.SP (SDPO Sopore) assisted by Inspector Muzaffar Ahmad SHO police station Dangiwacha was constituted by SP Sopore to investigate the gruesome blind murder of baby girl. In the process of investigation a reasonable suspicion was developed against the father of the victim namely Altaf Ahmad Rather, who was called for questioning in Police Station along with other relatives of the murdered girl child. J.P Singh said that the girl was last seen in the company of her father and he was asked to explain the circumstances leading to her getting missing and murdered. It was found from marriage and medical records, that the baby was born in less than nine months after the marriage of her parents. This made the father to suspect him not being her biological father.
Over a period of time this developed into an extreme hatred. Another motive of killing his own daughter was his greed as he was expecting cash compensation from government once his daughter was discovered killed to put blame on militants for the reason that his wife was a Panch (village panchayat member). And on the fateful day he sent his wife who is also a Panch (mother of the victim) to take their son to doctor in Sopore for medical consultation. Once his wife was gone, he took the girl in the outskirts in the apple orchard area where he choked her by blocking her nose and mouth with his hand and consequently she collapsed and died on spot. Thereafter, to mislead the police he slit the throat of her dead body with a knife and concealed the dead body in a bag and hid it under the grass and bushes. He also mislead police with regard to the age of his daughter, who was only 04 years old instead of 08 years as he claimed, the DIG added. The accused was arrested and circumstantial, scientific evidence corroborate his involvement in murder of his daughter.
