The murder of a teenager in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain came to the police's notice in an unexpected manner. A 13-year-old girl was strangled allegedly by her stepmother. When her father learnt about the murder, he erased all possible evidence before cremating his daughter. Or so he thought. What the couple didn't know was that there was video evidence, thanks to children in the village. That video helped nail the couple for murder.
Balaram, also known as Baalu Panwar, lived with his second wife Sangeeta, and 13-year-old daughter Madhu, in a village some 45 km away from Ujjain. Sangeeta allegedly resented Madhu and the two had frequent arguments and disagreements over household chores. On May 18, after one such fight, Sangeeta allegedly strangled Madhu.
When Baalu returned home, he saw his daughter's dead body. Instead of calling the police, Baalu decided to shield his wife and tried to cover up the marks of strangling from Madhu's neck and bruises from her body.
Baalu then gave villagers different versions of how his daughter died, as per the cops. To some, he said that his daughter died of electrocution, and to others, he said she had a heart attack.
The couple hastily carried out the last rites and cremated the teen before anyone could object.
When the shroud was removed just before the cremation, a few children spotted the marks on the girl's neck and filmed it.
Two days later, when the video reached the police, an investigation was launched. The parents were interrogated based on marks revealed in the video and were later arrested.
Police officer Bhavishya Bhaskar said the girl was killed in a domestic brawl. The last rites were performed hurriedly to hide the murder and mislead the police.
(With inputs from Lalit Jain)
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