Rape accused on bail kills minor survivor, disposes of torso in Brahmani river

The dismembered body of a minor girl, who was previously missing from Jharsuguda town, was found in Brahmani river in Rourkela of Sundargarh district on Wednesday. Local police recovered the severed limbs of the victim at one site while finding the torso and head separately encased in a sack.

According to sources, the primary suspect, who was earlier, booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for raping the minor, was out on bail at the time of this atrocity. The investigation is being jointly conducted by Jharsuguda and Rourkela police personnel.

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An intensive river search was carried out by the joint team of fire services and the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF). After a relentless six-hour operation in the morning, the team extracted a sack from the waters containing the victim minor’s torso, notably absent were the head and limbs.

The back-story traces back to 2023 when the accused, identified as Kunu Kisan, was first detained by Dharuadihi police on charges associated with the POCSO Act. Following a recent release on bail around two months ago, suspicions resurfaced as the prosecution intensified its scrutiny upon a filed missing person report by the victim's family.

During police questioning, Kisan directed the probe team to the various grim sites where the dismembered parts were located. Initial discoveries of the limbs were made near the densely wooded area of Hanuman Vatika forest, and then the torso was found wrapped in a sack and the head by the river’s Balughat area.

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Kisan remains in custody as the police team digs deeper into the murder case, probing how he executed such an act, including details about the murder weapon and method of dismemberment. The heinous nature of this crime has sparked demands for stringent punishment.

“The accused was previously involved in a POCSO case and was accorded bail two months ago. He suspected that if the minor girl had given a statement, his conviction was a must. Hence, he hatched a plan to eliminate the girl once and for all,” Jharsuguda Superintendent of Police (SP) Parmar Smit Parshottamdas said in a presser.