Meerut: A 15-year-old girl, daughter of a priest at a temple in Modinagar was kidnapped, gang-raped, murdered and her body dumped in a field in Partapur area in Meerut. On Friday, the mutilated body of the 15-year-old, a student of class X, missing for over a fortnight from NH-58, was found in a field and identified on Saturday. This comes a little more than a week after the horrific gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl after she was kidnapped from NH-91 in Bulandshahr.According to those who found her body, the 15-year-old had been stabbed and tortured, and there were marks from cigarette butts on her neck. This was corroborated in the post mortem report where strangulation was declared as the cause of death. The body also bore ante-mortem injuries from a sharp-edged weapon in the neck and face, Meerut police confirmed.A case of kidnap was filed following a complaint by the father of the girl at Modinagar police station on December 27 last year. “Some youths from the other community had kidnapped my daughter. I had got a complaint registered at the police station and also produced the mobile number of one of the kidnappers, but police didn’t make any effort to trace them,” said the father.Top police officials, caught off guard, are refraining from divulging details of the investigation, claiming that several teams have been pressed into action. “Meerut police have sent the body for post mortem and the report is awaited. Several teams have been formed to investigate the matter. We will soon work the case out,” said Arvind Kumar Maurya, Ghaziabad superintendent of police (rural areas).Sources revealed that police are extracting call details of the girl’s mobile number, based on which they will focus their investigation further.Local residents, backed by right-wing organisations, staged a protest and blocked NH-58 in Modinagar, demanding strict action against the accused and also against the erring cops. In a departmental crackdown, station house officer at Modinagar police station Neeraj Kumar Singh has been suspended, Ghaziabad police confirmed. Circle officer Rajkumar has been attached to police lines while Ravi Kumar will take over charge as circle officer of Modinagar.Last year, the entire Modinagar police station staff of 132 personnel was disbanded by senior superintendent of police Hari Singh Narayan after a 14-year-old girl of Class IX was kidnapped and murdered in September 2017. Meanwhile, top officers are also monitoring the situation, which has taken a communal turn.

Stay updated with all the Meerut Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.