Kolhapur:

The body of a 10-year-old girl was found in a sugarcane field in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district. Police suspect that the girl was sexually assaulted before being murdered. The girl left her house yesterday evening after she had a fight with her uncle over her excessive phone usage, police was quoted by news agency PTI.

When she did not return home for a long time, her parents launched a frantic search. Later on, the minor’s body was found in the field by locals just 800 metres away from her home in Shiye village under Karvir taluka.

Upon receiving the information, police and a medical team arrived at the spot. Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem examination and further probe is underway.

“So far, we have detained three to four suspects for questioning and are waiting for the autopsy report. Till then, I cannot comment more,” Shiroli MIDC Police Station in-charge Pankaj Giri told IANS.

The girl’s parents work in an industrial unit in the Shiroli MIDC area, the police said.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the culprits will face strict action and the state government will provide all possible help to the girl’s family.

“The girl’s family is from Bihar. As per primary information, her uncle beat her up on Wednesday afternoon and she left home. A local police station received a complaint at around 10 pm on Wednesday that the girl was missing. Her body was found this morning and the police suspect sexual assault on the girl. The police have detained some suspects and an investigation was on,” Mr Fadnavis said.

“We will go to the bottom of this case and the perpetrators will face strict action. We will provide all possible help to the family,” he added.

The incident comes days after two kindergarten students were sexually abused by a male attendant last week at a school in Thane. It sparked massive protests in Badlapur town as angry parents, local residents and others blocked railway tracks and ransacked the school.

A 23-year-old school janitor was arrested in the Badlapur case. Public outrage was also been fuelled by the parents having to wait 11 hours to file a police case; three cops involved have been suspended.

Kolhapur:

Five people suffered minor injuries after a bike crashed into an auto-rickshaw in Kolhapur. The auto-rickshaw driver was thrown off, but the driverless three-wheeler remained on the move, sending pedestrians running around before it came to a stop.

Dramatic visuals captured by a CCTV camera show the area near Patki Hospital in Shahupuri. An auto-rickshaw is seen taking a U-turn when a bike crashes into it. The auto-rickshaw driver is thrown out due to the impact, but the three-wheeler continues to move in a circle. A man and a woman are seen trying to move out of the way, but the auto-rickshaw hits them before others bring it to a halt.

This comes weeks after a chilling accident in Kolhapur that left three people dead. A car driven by a 72-year-old man hit two two-wheelers at a busy intersection in the city on June 3.

Vasant Chavan, who was behind the will, died after the crash, reportedly due to a heart attack. Two others, who were on bikes, were killed in the accident. Three others were injured.