April 21: The grandmother and in-laws of Manoj Kumar Sah — the prime accused in the rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi — want him to be hanged for the heinous crime.

His grandmother Mahasundari Devi (70) was visibly shocked over his involvement in the rape. Sitting outside her home at Bharathua village in Muzaffarpur, around 105km north of Patna, she said: “He should be hanged, if he has done so with a little kid, who is not even aware of what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Manoj’s mother in-law Nirmala Devi demanded severe punishment for him. “Use fasi par latka do (hang him till death),” she said, adding that she would persuade her daughter to divorce him.

His father-in-law Mahendra Sah, too, did not defend him. Mahendra said he had not slept for the past two days after he came to know about the shocking incident.

“It is a fact that this is the question of my daughter’s life. She married only last year and has no child. But I would convince my daughter to live without such a husband,” he said in a choked voice.

His daughter and Manoj’s wife Archana, however, claimed that her husband was innocent. She said he had been implicated in the case.

“I don’t think he has committed such a crime,” she told reporters at her parents’ house at Chiknauta under Karja police station in Muzaffarpur district, around 65km northwest of Patna.

Manoj was arrested from his in-laws’ house on Friday night and was subsequently taken to Delhi.

The residents of Bharathua village — the native place of Manoj — claimed that he had committed a similar crime a few years ago but evaded arrest as the matter was settled between him and the relatives of the victim.

If Bharathua panchayat head Lal Babu Rai is to be believed, Manoj indulged in unlawful activities whenever he visited the village. “What to talk of others, he had once brutally beaten up his grandmother and grandfather when they objected to his illegal activities at the village,” Rai told The Telegraph over phone.

Rai said Manoj had assaulted his neighbour Rajendra Sah and his wife Pavitri Devi in 2011 following a dispute over a plot. The victims lodged an FIR against him with the Aurai police station in Muzaffarpur district on February 3, 2011 in connection with the incident.

Rai’s claim was substantiated by the station house officer (SHO) of Aurai police station. The officer, Neeraj Kumar, said a chargesheet was submitted against Manoj in the case. “The case is still pending in the court,” he said.

The SHO said the inhabitants of Bharathua told him that the youth had a criminal bent of mind. “During his stay in the village, he used to harass girls on one pretext or the other. His activities triggered tension in the village several times,” he added.

Manoj’s grandfather Heera Sah, (75), a foodgrain dealer, had no qualms in admitting that his neighbours at Bharathua village in Muzaffarpur often complained to him about his grandson’s misdeeds.

“I was so disappointed that once I had asked my son Bindeshwari Sah (Manoj’s father) not to bring him home (Bharathua) from Delhi,” he said.

The elderly couple, however, had not imagined that the panchayat would ostracise them. “I, along with my wife, have spent whole of my life in the village. The residents have no grudge against us. But we have to accept the panchayat’s verdict,” he said.

The residents of Fulkahan village under Sonbarsa block in Sitamarhi district — the native place of the victim’s family and 80km north of Bharathua — performed a “yajna” today praying for her life.