CID to probe rape of minor in Kanpur

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Karamveer Singh on Saturday announced a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department into the sodomy and rape of a minor schoolgirl in Kanpur in September.

Nine-year-old Divya had died on the night of September 27 after being sexually assaulted. The police have been accused of trying to shield the accused.

The state police chief has now decided to refer the decision to the crime branch of the CID.

At a press conference on Saturday, Karamveer Singh told the media that the UP police was committed to bringing the guilty to book.

"Munna, who is a servant of the Bharti Gyansthali School owner Chandrapal Verma, had already confessed to the crime and is under arrest, along with the owner and his son Piyush Verma," he said.

When a scribe sought to draw his attention to the widely alleged involvement of the owner's son Piyush, Singh said, "The owner and his son were found guilty of negligence in not taking adequate care of the little girl after she was discovered in a semi-conscious state on the school campus."

He added, "Instead of making arrangements to hospitalise the victim, the school owner and his son simply put her on a rickshaw and told her to go home."

Thoroughly dissatisfied with the CB-CID probe, the victim's parents have been seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry.

"Who does not know that the CB- CID is a pocket organisation of the state police? It is just a farce, making it pretty evident that the police are only out to protect the real culprits. An impartial inquiry would be possible only if the case is referred to the CBI," Divya's father Hamir Singh told this scribe over the telephone from Kanpur.