- Four teenagers arrested for gang-rape, murder of Delhi teen.
- 16-year-old girl found stabbed in North Delhi's Swaroop Nagar.
- Police used CCTV, tempo driver to crack the complex case.
Delhi: The Delhi Police have apprehended four teenagers in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in north Delhi's Swaroop Nagar.
The victim, a school dropout who lived on her own and was searching for work to support her family, was found stabbed and hidden under leaves in an open field near Kushak Road on September 13. Police arrested 19-year-old Shivam Ganesh alongside three minor accomplices aged 16 and 17. Authorities have seized two knives used by the suspects and the clothes they allegedly wore at the time of the crime, Hindustan Times reported.
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The Crime And Sequence Of Events
According to police, the victim knew one of the suspects, a 17-year-old, and had gone to meet him on the evening of September 10. Under the influence of alcohol, the suspect raped her and called his friends after she threatened to report him. The group gang-raped the girl before dragging her to a nearby field on September 11, where she was stabbed six to eight times. The perpetrators then tried to hide her body under leaves and mud before fleeing the scene in a tempo.
Following the incident, police filed a case of murder, rape, and causing the disappearance of evidence based on initial investigations and the autopsy report.
"The recovered exhibits have been preserved for forensic examination, and necessary legal action will be taken accordingly," Deputy Commissioner of police (Outer North District) Shobhit Saksena was quoted as saying.
Saksena added that further investigation is underway to establish the complete sequence of events, ascertain the individual role of each apprehended person, verify all available forensic and technical evidence, and examine the involvement of any other person in the offence.
How Police Cracked The Case
A police team led by Additional DCP (Outer North) Lokeshwaran R and Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravinder Ahlawat launched an investigation after discovering that no locals had spotted the girl over the weekend. The breakthrough came after investigators scanned more than 50 CCTV cameras and spotted a tempo moving near the field around the time of the incident. While the registration number was not clearly visible in the footage due to darkness, the vehicle was identified with the help of CCTV mapping.
Investigators traced and questioned the tempo's driver, who revealed that his 17-year-old brother often took the vehicle.
"The footage also revealed the presence of four young boys inside the tempo. The boys were soon identified but had fled from their home," an investigator said.
DCP Shobhit Saksena explained that the team analysed the tempo's movements across multiple cameras and used footage with local inquiries to map out the accused route.
"On the basis of the developed leads, a night-long search operation was conducted during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The tempo was traced in Khadda Colony, Swaroop Nagar. Its driver was identified and questioned. Further investigation led to the apprehension of four persons," the DCP said.