The wife of Sanji Ram, believed to be the mastermind behind the rape-and-murder of eight-year-old girl Asifa Bano, on Wednesday joined a ‘fast-unto-death’ protest to demand the transfer of case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Darshna Devi (55) joined the protest on the fifth day, after replacing Anjana Sharma who was admitted to a hospital this afternoon.
Anjana is an aunt of one of the accused Parvesh Kumar, a resident of Rassana village. He was arrested by the Crime Branch.
Sanji Ram, who according to the police is the mastermind in the abduction, rape and murder of minor girl, surrendered before the police on March 20. His surrender came after the arrest of his son Vishal – a BSc Agriculture student -from Meerut area of Uttar Pradesh.
Ram, said to be linked with the Hindu Ekta Manch, allegedly motivated special police officer Deepak Khajuria to kidnap, rape and murder the eight-year-old victim with the intention of driving out nomadic families of Muslim origin from Jammu’s Rasana village.
The girl was kidnapped on January 10, after which she was allegedly drugged and raped. Her mutilated body was recovered on January 17.
Four people, including two special police officers, have already been arrested in the case.
The Hindu Ekta Manch, an NGO backed by the BJP, has been demanding a CBI investigation into the incident. Others backing the demand are BJP ministers Chander Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, besides minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh.
However, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had rejected the demand in March – stating that the crime branch has already completed “over 95%” of the investigation.
Besides the special police officers, a sub-inspector and a head constable have also been held on charges of tampering with evidence.