New Delhi: A peculiar symbol noticed on a tempo after analysing 50-camera CCTV footage proved handy in the probe of the alleged gang rape and murder of a teenage girl here, whose decomposed body and the absence of a missing complaint by her family posed serious challenges for the Delhi Police.
Her parents are daily wage labourers, and the family did not have documents to establish her exact age. There were also no CCTV cameras in the immediate vicinity of the spot. However, a camera located some distance away captured a vehicle moving around the relevant time.
Because of darkness, police said, the vehicle was identified as a tempo, but its registration number could not be seen. A girl, aged around 15-17 years, was allegedly raped, stabbed to death and dumped in an open field by four people, including three minors, after she went with them in the tempo. The body of the girl was found in the field near Jaipal Rana’s field on Kushak Road on September 13. A doctor subsequently opined that her age was between 15 and 17 years, police said.
They were known to each other and allegedly drank together before the incident, the police said. It was so highly decomposed that the gender could not be immediately ascertained, while some parts of the body had also been eaten by stray dogs and one hand was found separated from the body, police said. The family had not filed a missing complaint, as the girl would often leave home and return after a few days, according to police.
With no apparent eyewitness or immediate clue about the identity of the victim or the perpetrators, investigators initially faced difficulty in establishing what had happened and identifying those involved.
