Boy produced before Juvenile Justice Board ** No injury found on deceased
Shillong, Sept 17: In a major breakthrough in the death of a four-year-old girl in Shillong, a 13-year-old boy was found to be responsible for the tragic incident, but he claimed it was accidental and not intentional.
The boy, a neighbour and frequent visitor to the girl’s house at Nongrah Nonglum, was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).
He has admitted to taking the girl, Insaphira Lyngdoh Mawnai, to a nearby construction site, from where her body was found on September 15, East Khasi Hills police chief Vivek Syiem said.
She went missing from her house on September 14 morning.
As per the investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in this connection, the boy had taken the girl to the construction site, where he slipped and pulled the girl along, resulting in her accidental drowning.
The post-mortem report confirmed that the cause of death was drowning, with no evidence of physical injury or sexual assault.
The boy, meanwhile, 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.
“He was sent to the juvenile home yesterday for observation. Today thorough medical examination and several medical tests have been done on this boy. He has now been produced before the Juvenile Justice Board,” Syiem told reporters on Wednesday.
The death occurred 24-36 hour ahead of the post-mortem examination, indicating that it happened in that place (where the body was found) and not in any other place, the SP said.
The SP said the SIT will further investigate the claims of the boy to ascertain whether it was accidental or otherwise.
“We need to find out further whether this boy had a motive,” he said.
“SIT has 90 days to investigate this case,” he said while pointing out that the boy’s involvement in the death was already proved, but it was also proved that there was no sexual assault or injury on her body.
“It also proven that there is no robbery because her gold earrings are intact,” he added.
