Gangtok, Jan. 12: The brutal murder of two minor girls shocked Sikkim today, plunging the towns of Rhenock and Singtam into mourning with shops and businesses shutting down for the day.
The hill state woke up to the news of the murder of a five-year-old girl and her three-year-old first cousin in Rhenock yesterday.
Police recovered the bodies of the two girls from the house of Krishna Prasad Saha, accused of committing the murder, last evening. Eighteen-year-old Saha, who has been arrested by the police, is said to have raped the elder girl and then hacked her to death with a bamfok (local machete). The elder girl’s body was recovered from the toilet with the head severed from the torso. The body of her first cousin was recovered from the sitting room with similar injuries.
Saha’s father Baidyanath is a vegetable hawker who owns a shop at Haat bazar in Rhenock. The family, originally from Bihar, had been living in Rhenock for almost a decade, official sources said. Police also said the accused had a history ofdrug addiction and was in an intoxicated state when he committed the murders. Investigations are being carried out about the motive of the crime.
Even as the news of the brutal murder of the minor girls spread, the two East District towns of Rhenock and Singtam plunged into mourning with all shops and establishments closing down as a mark of respect for the two minor girls. Vehicles also stopped plying in the towns.
The bodies of the murdered girls were brought to Gangtok for postmortem before being handed over to their families.
The crime, described as one of the most heinous in the state so far, has angered the residents of Rhenock who expressed apprehension that “outsiders” could commit such crimes and make a getaway from the state easily.
Police were deployed in large numbers in the towns after the incident to avert the possibility of a communal clash over the issue. There were, however, no major incidents reported.
Official sources have confirmed that the elder girl was raped before being killed.
