A day after, gang-rape charges slapped on four accused

LUCKNOW: The four accused, who were held in connection with the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Chowk, were on Thursday slapped with gang rape charges.

The police said the probe confirmed that two of the four youths were involved in outraging the modesty of the girl. While the accused strangulated the victim to death, the two others, including a minor boy, were instrumental in concealing the crime, claimed cops.

The four accused -- Junaid, 19, Irshad, 28, Asif, 24, and a minor boy -- were taken into custody after the decomposed and partially charred body of the girl was recovered from the terrace of her neighbour’s house in the crowded Mahmoodnagar locality of Chowk on Wednesday morning.

The girl had been missing from her house since Sunday night.

Junaid had initially confessed to raping and murdering the girl while the role of the three others was not clear.

IP Singh, inspector of Chowk police station, said the interrogation of the youths confirmed that the second youth, Asif, too was involved in raping the girl. He said the two others Irshad and the minor boy, however, helped them in concealing the crime.

He said the confessions of the accused suggested that all four were involved in the crime, so IPC section 376 G for gang rape was imposed on them.

In the FIR lodged on Wednesday, only charges of rape were mentioned.

All the accused were sent into judicial custody after they were produced before the court on Thursday, said the cop.