Shillong, Sept 17: Police are probing the role of a 13-year-old boy in connection with the death of the 4-year-old Nongrah girl, who went missing on September 14.
Police interrogated the boy, who went with the girl on the day of the incident to the under-construction site at Nongrah Nonglum, where her body was found on September 15, a day after she went missing.
Initially, the version of the boy, who is the neighbour of the victim, was that he noticed some vehicles coming and going before the incident.
The boy did not inform anyone about the incident till the family filed an FIR.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem said that according to the boy, he slipped along with the girl, resulting in the drowning of the girl.
He was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).
Syiem said the boy, a frequent visitor to the victim’s family, has admitted to taking the girl to the nearby construction site.
The girl identified as Insaphira Lyngdoh Mawnai went missing from her residence at 8 am on September 14.
“The police investigation, led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by SP (City) Herbert Kharkongor, revealed that the boy had taken the girl to the construction site, where he slipped and pulled the girl along, resulting in her accidental drowning”, Syiem said.
The post-mortem report confirmed that the cause of death was drowning, with no evidence of physical injury or sexual assault, the SP said.
Syiem said during the SIT investigation, the boy confessed to taking the girl to the site and attempting to distract attention by concocting a story about a black Scorpio vehicle and masked men.
To a question whether the boy can create a story about the drowning of the girl like what he said about the appearance of the black vehicle and masked men, the SP said that the investigation was still on.
“He was sent to the juvenile home yesterday for observation. Today, a thorough medical examination and several medical tests have been done. He was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board,” Syiem said.
“The post-mortem was also received today, and it revealed that the cause of death was due to drowning. There are no injuries, there is no sexual assault, and the death was 24 to 36 hours from the time post-mortem was done, so that indicates the death happened in that place and not in other places,” he said.
As the case is not over, the SP said the SIT will further investigate the claims of the boy to ascertain whether it was accidental or otherwise.
“SIT has got 90 days to investigate this case. Right now, what we have proven is that it is the boy who has taken the girl child to the site. It is also proven that there is no robbery because her gold earrings are intact. It is also proven that there was no sexual assault, and it is also proven that there was no injury to the body. The post-mortem report has revealed that it was a case of drowning,” Syiem said.
To a question, the SP said, “We need to find out further whether this boy had a motive. We need to find out further whether it is anything other than accidental.”
