Sundargarh: girl raped & killed, another gang-raped

One minor girl was allegedly raped and killed while another was gang-raped in separate incidents in Odisha's Sundargarh district, police said on Tuesday.

A 15-year-old girl was raped and then murdered near Sundargarh town. The girl belonged to Colonypara near Gopalpur, they said.

The naked body of the girl was found on the bank of the river Basundhara, Inspector-in-charge of Hemgiri police station, Sradhanjali Behera said.

The girl went missing on the evening of July 20 and her family reported the matter to the police the next day. Her body was recovered on Tuesday morning, she said.

"We have just recovered the body and the scientific team is doing the initial investigation. Early signs show this could be a case of rape and murder. So far no one has been arrested," the IIC said.

A minor girl was gang-raped at Rampur village under Kuanrmunda police station area on the night of July 10, they said.

Though the incident at Rampur took place 13 days ago, the girl kept silent as she was threatened by the accused and lodged a complaint with the police on Monday after a video of the crime got viral on social media, a police official said.

As per the girl's complaint, 8 to 10 youths took her away forcibly when she was watching a marriage procession near her house on July 10 night. The accused took the girl to an isolated place and raped her, police said adding the accused persons also took video shots of the act.

Acting on the information provided by the girl, police have arrested two persons in this case so far and efforts are on to nab eight others, said officer-in-charge of Kuanrmunda police outpost, Hrushikesh Behera.

Special teams have already been formed and several places are being raided as part of the investigation in the case and to arrest the other accused, he said.

The incidents have come to light two days after an eight-year-old girl was found lying unconscious near a garbage dump with injury marks on her body on Sunday. It is suspected that the accused also tried to kill the girl after raping her.

The Odisha Assembly, for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, witnessed pandemonium and was adjourned after opposition parties continued demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation over rising incidents of missing children and rape cases.