14-year-old girl's body exhumed in Bihar's Sitamarhi district over rape-murder allegations

The body of a 14-year-old girl was exhumed in Bihar's Sitamarhi district and sent for forensic examination to ascertain allegations of rape and murder made by her family, officials said on Monday.

The girl was allegedly raped and murdered on April 3, but an FIR was lodged only on May 7, more than a month after the incident, they said.

Belsand SDPO Ravi Shankar Prasad said the body was exhumed on Sunday following registration of the FIR.

''Though the alleged rape and murder took place on April 3, police were informed about the incident only after more than a month. Since it was an old case, we had to wait for the court's order to exhume the body,'' he told PTI.

At least five persons have been named in the FIR, though no arrests or detentions have been made so far, the officer said.

According to the family, the victim's mother returned home from the fields around 10.30 pm on the day of the incident and found her daughter kneeling on a wooden cot, with a dupatta tied around her neck and the other end fastened to a bamboo beam of the roof.

The family alleged that the following morning, around 8.30 am, the accused buried the body in a village graveyard without the consent of the girl's mother and before her father, who works as a labourer in Mumbai, could return home.

A maternal cousin of the deceased alleged that one of the accused wanted to marry the girl and used to harass her.

''We are waiting for the forensic report. Once that is received, we will carry out a detailed investigation and solve the case as promptly as possible,'' the Belsand SDPO said.

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