A father raped and killed his 15-year-old daughter in Anthampally village of Bhiknoor mandal (Andhra Pradesh) in the early hours of Thursday.
According to the police, after raping his daughter in an inebriated condition, Jeedi Bhupal, 44, poured toilet cleaner and kerosene over the girl and set her on fire, trying to pass it off as an acid attack. The girl died while undergoing treatment in the hospital.
The police suspected Bhupal as he gave conflicting versions of the incident. After being taken into custody, he confessed to the crime on Thursday evening.
Rapist dad gave cops another version
The daughter, Jeedi Kalyani, was studying in Class X at Zilla Parishad High School for Girls at Bhiknoor mandal headquarters.
The police said that Bhupal, 44, had initially stated that he found Kalyani in the house with severe burns on Thursday morning. She was immediately shifted by the family members to the government area hospital in Kamareddy, where she died while undergoing treatment.
Bhupal told the cops that two unidentified persons had entered their house and attacked his daughter with acid. He said that since they slept in different rooms, no one had witnessed the attack. Kalyani apparently slept alone in the front room of the house where she watched TV at night.
Going by this statement, Kamareddy DSP B. Manohar and Bhiknoor CI Karunakar Reddy started an investigation. As the news spread, Bhiknoor Tahsildar Srinivas Reddy and MPDO Mallikarjun also rushed to the village. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the district collector and the SP to take stringent action against the culprits of the alleged acid attack.
Bhupal’s contradictory statements, however, made the police suspicious, and during questioning he confessed that he had raped his daughter in an inebriated condition on Wednesday night. To divert attention from himself, he had poured toilet cleaner and kerosene on Kalyani and set her on fire.
He said that his family members, including his wife, knew of the attack. But he had threatened to kill them if they told anyone. While the attack took place between midnight and 2 am of Thursday, the girl was shifted to the hospital only by about 4 am.
SP Vikram Jeet Duggal said: “Bhupal is in police custody and we will produce him before court on Friday.” Bhupal had returned from Gulf two years ago and has since been jobless. His family included his wife Swarupa, two daughters including the victim, a son and his aged mother Siddavva.