Murder case filed a day after police stop kin from burying girl in Delhi’s Hari Nagar; post-mortem confirms she was smothered

NEW DELHI: A murder case was registered on Thursday in connection with the death of a girl in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar, aday after police intervened to stop her family from burying her. Police are probing if a dispute in the family over her alleged relationship with a relative may have led to the killing. No arrests have been made yet.

According to police sources, apost-mortem examination has been conducted, revealing the girl was smothered. Her age is still being verified, said police.

A senior police officer said preliminary investigation suggests the girl’s family objected to her “relationship” with a person related to her. “She was killed on the intervening night of March 31 and April 1,” he said. Cops are also looking into other possibilities as well as a recent argument between the family members.

The officer said that the sequence of events was being ascertained.

The girl’s family members are being questioned to reconstruct the timeline leading up to the killing, including the events of the night in question, to gain a clear understanding of what transpired. The family members initially told police that the girl had been unwell but could not provide a clear explanation regarding the circumstances of her death, he added.

The incident came to light around 2pm on Wednesday when police received a call from one of the girl’s friends. The caller informed cops that the family was attempting to take the body for burial.

A team from the local police station immediately went to the spot and took custody of the body before it could be buried.

The girl’s parents work as vegetable vendors in the area. The family, originally from Bihar, moved to Delhi last year and stay in a rented accommodation in Tihar village.