‘Missing’ for 3 weeks, 17-year-old Kapurthala girl found murdered

A 17-year-old girl from Kapurthala district, who purportedly went missing on March 3, was found murdered on Monday near Bilga town of Jalandhar district.

Police have registered a case of murder and kidnapping against her male friend Fuman Singh and four others, including his three family members. The other accused are Fuman’s elder brother Raj Kumar alias Raju, his sister-in-law Manjeet Kaur, mother Ranjeet Kaur, allKap residents of Chulatha village in Kapurthala and Komalpreet’s friend Harpreet Kaur of Fatehpur village in Jalandhar.

The case was registered under Sections 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), 366A (procuration of minor girl), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police arrested Raju on Monday, claiming he confessed that his brother murdered the girl and dumped her body in a well at Umarpur Kalan village near Bilga town. The other accused are absconding, police said.

“During the preliminary probe, it was found that the girl, who passed Class 12 recently, enrolled for classes of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test at Sultanpur Lodhi,” said Sultanpur Lodhi station house officer (SHO) Bikramjit Singh.

“On March 3 morning, she went missing. Her parents suspected her of having an affair with Fuman. Harpreet reportedly helped him take the victim along. On March 2, Harpreet had even called her parents informing them that she will reach home late as they had an extra class to attend,” the SHO said.

Police said that body was sent for post-mortem examinations at the civil hospital.