4 siblings murdered in north Maharashtra

There is massive anger in north Maharashtra’s Jalgaon over the murder and alleged rape of four young siblings – two girls aged 13 and 6 years and two boys aged 11 and 8 years old. The children, who belonged to a tribal community, were allegedly hacked to death with an axe by unidentified accused last Thursday, the police said.

Four days after the incident, the police are yet to make any arrests. However, they have added rape charges to the murder case, based on circumstantial and scientific evidence, sources said.

“We are verifying the evidence. Our investigation is progressing well. We should be able to make arrests soon,” Inspector General of Police Pratap Dighavkar told reporters when asked why there were no arrests so far.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who visited Jalgaon on Saturday, had told reporters that the “probe is moving in a positive direction and arrests will be made soon.”

The children were reportedly murdered on the night of October 15, and were found lying in a pool of blood inside a house at a farm in a village in Raver taluka, some 66 km from the district headquarters of Jalgaon.

The police rushed to the spot after the house owner reached the next morning and found the bodies.

According to the police, the children’s parents had gone with their oldest son to attend rituals after the death of a relative. The children were left in the care of an acquaintance.

“All four were very young and that’s why he had asked my friends to look after them while we were away. But, they only did this heinous act,” the victims’ brother said.

The police have registered cases under sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and listed charges including rape and murder.

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