The attack on a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was set on fire in Agra last week, was planned by her cousin, who committed suicide on the day she died of burn injuries in a Delhi hospital, police in Uttar Pradesh said on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old cousin of the Class 10 student was angry because she turned down his advances, police said, adding that two people have been arrested in connection with the crime.
The girl’s family reiterated their demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, saying police were framing a dead person without any “strong evidence”.
“We will continue our fight for justice,” the girl’s father said.
The girl was intercepted by three men — all wearing helmets — on two motorcycles on her way back from school on December 18, and set on fire.
She was taken to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she died two days later.
“The cousin had promised Rs 15,000 each to the co-accused. They happened to be his relatives and have been arrested,” Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Agra, said on Tuesday.
Police said they used social media chats, photographs and CCTV footage to solve the case and recovered the motorcycles used in the crime, helmets, a lighter, a bag and the mobile phone of the cousin.
The phone provided important clues in the case. The chats revealed that the girl was getting irritated with the cousin, who was obsessed about her, said Pathak.
“We suspected the involvement of some insider. The suicide of the girl’s cousin made the case more complex. We had to look into the reason for his suicide too,” Pathak said.
Family members of the cousin said he had gone to meet the girl in Delhi and committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance after returning to Agra.
Pathak said investigations revealed that the man had purchased a bicycle for the girl and told her that he would help her achieve her dream of becoming a model.
In a Facebook conversation, the girl showed suspicion that her cousin, fond of crime shows, was involved in an attack on her father, who was hit on his head on November 23, police said. Pathak said police, too, believed the cousin was behind that attack.
“The girl even told him, ‘Tum bhai kehlane layak nahi ho (you are not worthy of being called a brother)’. Such conversations confirmed him as a suspect and it proved to be true when we found that he engaged two of his relatives in his plan to eliminate the girl,” Pathak said.
Pathak said the cousin and the two others planned the attack three weeks before they targeted the girl and conducted a recce of the spot.
“He showed the photograph of the girl in school uniform to the two men, but did not reveal her identity to them. Initially, we believed that there were only two accused, but CCTV footage revealed that the girl’s cousin was also on the spot of crime. They had come on two motorcycles,” he said.
Police said the cousin poured petrol on the girl and set her afire.
“The main accused wore surgical gloves and tied a handkerchief on his face to conceal his identity. He had asked his aides not to utter even a word. They changed their clothes after executing the crime. He kept his mobile phone switched off on the day of the crime,” Pathak said