The body of a 13-year-old girl, working as a domestic help, was found at the residence of UP Power Corporation Limited (UUPCL) executive engineer, R.K. Srivastava in the posh Gomti Nagar locality.
The victim’s family insisted foul play in her death since ligature marks were found around the girl’s neck.
An angry mob, later in the evening, blocked the arterial road opposite the house for over an hour to protest the girl’s death in mysterious circumstances. The mob also attacked the house of the engineer and damaged two vehicles belonging to the family. The window panes were also smashed by the mob.
According to the police it was Ramesh Verma, another servant in the house, who first found the girl’s body on the terrace.
The girl used to bathe in the bathroom on the terrace and have lunch after completing the household chores. When the girl took an abnormally long time to return from her bath, the wife of the engineer sent the other servants to call her.
The door was locked from the terrace side and the girl did not respond. He went to the terrace from the first floor and found the girl lying dead. Her clothes were intact, though injury marks were visible around her neck. The engineer’s family rushed her to a medical facility where she was pronounced brought dead.
The minor girl, a resident of Ujariyaon village, in Gomti Nagar area, belonged to Assam and had migrated to Lucknow with her family in search of work.
The police has detained Ramesh Verma and another servant Ajay for questioning and the girl’s body has been sent for post mortem.
SSP Lucknow, J. Ravinder Goud, told reporters that the engineer’s family was trying to conceal the sequence of events and the exact cause of death would be ascertained after the post mortem.
The girl’s father told the police that the engineer’s family had slapped his daughter several times over a trivial issue some days ago.