An 11-year-old girl, who had left home to collect wood, was found dead the next day near an orchard in Patna. The caretaker of the orchard has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering her.
The incident comes to light at a time when anger over the deaths of children in Patna has spilled over onto the streets, with Bihar’s capital seeing violent protests in recent days. The death of a class 5 student in her school on Wednesday, and the finding of two children’s bodies in the back seat of a car on August 15 have both led to arson and stone pelting in Patna over the last week.
According to officials, the 11-year-old had gone to collect wood on Tuesday afternoon, returned home, and left again. When she did not return after more than an hour, her family informed the police at around 4 pm.
The next morning, some local residents, who had gone out fishing, discovered the body near an orchard and alerted the police. Upon receiving information, police officers led by City SP Bhanu Pratap Singh arrived at the scene. “The presence of water at the site, resulting from rising water levels in the Ganga, made it extremely difficult to recover the body,” Singh said.
Subsequently, technical specialists, a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team, a dog squad, and CCTV experts were called in. “A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Sub-Divisional Police Officer was formed. Additionally, seven smaller teams were created to work on various leads. These efforts led to the case being solved within six hours,” the SP said.
The officer said the arrested accused was identified as Bhola Rai (48), who was responsible for maintaining the same orchard where the girl’s body was discovered.
“Rai committed sexual assault on the girl, and to destroy evidence and prevent her from informing anyone, he killed her and hanged her body from a guava tree,” the SP alleged.
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Singh also said that the investigation revealed Rai’s earlier suspicious conduct toward the minor. “On previous occasions, the girl had been lured and harassed by Rai. On August 26, he evaded CCTV surveillance to take her through a different route, sexually assaulted and eventually murdered her in an attempt to conceal his identity,” he said.
The victim’s family said she was a student of a government school and lived with her brother and grandmother, as her mother was dead and father works in another state.
Local residents said they had harboured suspicions about Bhola Rai. “After she went missing, we searched everywhere, including the garden. Bhola Rai told us she had come to pluck guavas, but he chased her away and sent us elsewhere. When we could not find her, we returned, but Bhola did not cooperate,” the victim’s aunt said.
