Guwahati, Oct. 13: The CID has filed the chargesheet in the sensational rape-and-murder case of eight-year-old Barnali Deb without the DNA findings, following the commitment by the Assam government in the Assembly.
Minister of state for home Rakibul Hussain had informed the state Assembly during the just-concluded autumn session of the House that the CID would file the chargesheet in the case within the mandatory period of 90 days on the basis of circumstantial evidence, if the DNA report was not received within this period.
Of the four accused, two were charged with the rape and murder of the child from Agartala but the CID could not find enough evidence against the other two. The two accused charged by the CID are Bishnu Prasad and Putul Bora while the other two are Rama Hazarika and Krishna Hazarika.
Inspector-general of police (CID) S.P. Kar told The Telegraph that a supplementary chargesheet would be filed after the DNA report is received. The chargesheet was filed in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup.
Kar said the accused Bishnu Prasad and Putul Bora were charged under IPC Sections 376, 302 and 34 and would be sentenced to death if convicted. “There is enough evidence against both of them. The DNA findings would only strengthen the case,” Kar said.
The CID has already moved the state government seeking permission to engage top lawyers to plead against the accused in the case.
The minister informed the House that the state government would give its go-ahead on the CID proposal once it is cleared by the law department.
The body of Barnali, daughter of a Tripura couple living in Dimapur, was fished out of a septic tank at a private travel agency — Network Travels — in Paltan Bazar area of the city on July 14.
The chowkidar, Bishnu Prasad Sinha, employed by Network Travels, was arrested immediately.
He later confessed to the crime along with three others —driver Krishna Hazarika, conductor Rama Hazarika and handyman Putul Bora of a private bus. They were picked up from Kohora near Bokakhat the same day.
Barnali was accompanying her parents, who were on their way from Agartala to Dimapur. When the Debs were asleep in the waiting room of the travel agency, the eight-year-old was whisked away to a nearby room by the four accused, raped and subsequently murdered.
