16-year-old girl gang-raped by 4 teens, found stabbed to death days later in Delhi

The girl knew one of the suspects, a 17-year-old, and had gone to meet him on Saturday evening.

Four teenagers have been apprehended for the gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found stabbed and hidden beneath leaves in a field in north Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar, police said on Thursday.

Police said Shivam Ganesh (19) was arrested in connection with the crime. His accomplices, the three minors aged 17 and 16, have been taken into custody. The two knives used by the suspects and the clothes that they allegedly wore at the time of the crime have been seized at their instance.

The girl, a school dropout who was living on her own and searching for work to help support her family, was found dead on September 13. Police said the body had about six to eight stab wounds.

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The girl knew one of the suspects, a 17-year-old, and had gone to meet him on the evening of September 10. “He raped her and when she threatened him, he called his friends who also raped her. They were all under the influence of alcohol. We have already taken their blood samples. After they committed rape, they took her to a field and stabbed her more than six times early on September 11. They tried to hide the body under leaves and mud. They later fled in the tempo,” a police officer said, citing initial investigations.

Her decomposing body was found on September 13.

Deputy commissioner of police (Outer North district) Shobhit Saksena said further investigation was in progress 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.

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“The recovered exhibits have been preserved for forensic examination and necessary legal action will be taken accordingly,” Saksena added.

How police cracked the case

Police said the girl was found stabbed to death in an open field near Kushak Road, Swaroop Nagar two days later. Police said they lodged a case of murder, rape and causing disappearance of evidence on the basis of their initial investigations and the autopsy report.

A team led by additional DCP (Outer North) Lokeshwaran R and assistant commissioner of police Ravinder Ahlawat found that none of the locals had spotted the girl on Saturday night or Sunday. More than 50 CCTVs were scanned and then a tempo was spotted moving near the field around the time of the incident.

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Investigators said the registration number was not clearly visible in the footage due to darkness but the vehicle was finally identified with the help of CCTV mapping,

Police said they picked up the driver of the tempo, who revealed that his younger brother, 17, 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,” said an investigator.

DCP (outernorth) Shobhit Saksena said the team had analysed the movement of the tempo across multiple CCTVs and used the footage along with local inquiry to establish the route taken by the accused.

“On the basis of the developed leads, a night-long search operation was conducted during the intervening night of Tuesday-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.

Jignasa Sinha is a Special Correspondent at Hindustan Times in New Delhi. With more than six years of reporting experience, she covers crime and policing in the national capital. Her beats also include Delhi prisons, the Delhi Fire Services and Delhi courts, while she regularly reports on gender, labour and social justice. Over the course of her career, Jignasa has reported on major criminal investigations, international crime syndicates, high-profile cyber fraud cases, law-and-order developments, protests, disasters and public institutions. Her reporting combines breaking news with in-depth, long form, human interest stories that examine the human impact of public policy, policing and the criminal justice system. In addition to reporting for the newspaper, she contributes to the Hindustan Times website and app, and plays an active role in coordinating on-ground coverage of major developments and breaking news across Delhi. Before joining Hindustan Times, Jignasa worked at The Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi, where she spent five years covering crime, Delhi airport, courts and health. She began her journalism career as an intern at an AI magazine in Bengaluru while pursuing her postgraduate diploma in multimedia journalism at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media.Read More