A nine-year-old girl was raped and killed allegedly by a priest and three male employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment in south-west Delhi, who then cremated her body allegedly without her parents’ consent or the police being informed. Police said the four men were arrested after the child’s family alleged foul play and staged a protest along with fellow villagers on Sunday night.

The child from an economically backward family lived with her parents in Purana Nangal in the Delhi Cantonment area, close to the crematorium. She had gone to the crematorium last evening to fetch drinking water from the cooler but never returned.

Around 6 pm, some locals who knew the cremation ground priest Radheshyam, called her mother to the crematorium and showed her the body.

They said she got electrocuted while drinking water from cooler. There were burn marks on the child`s wrist and elbow. Her lips were also blue, her mother said.

The priest and his companions then told the girl`s mother not to inform the police. Filing of a case would mean postmortem, where the child`s organs will be stolen, they told her mother, suggesting that a cremation be held immediately.

Apparently they prevailed, locals speculate that the girl`s parents were paid some money as incentive.

But later, the woman and her husband raised an alarm. Around 200 villagers of old Nangal village gathered at the crematorium and the police was informed.

Pratap Singh, a senior officer of the South West district police said they received a call about the case around 10.30 pm. A case has been filed with charges under the stringent laws against child sex abuse and crimes against scheduled castes and tribes.

The investigation is continuing.

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