KATHUA RAPE & MURDER Now, it is for the courts to decide on CBI probe: DyCM

Agencies to probe audio clip on cash trail

JAMMU: While assuring justice to the victim of Kathua rape and murder case and severest punishment to the perpetrators of crime, senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh today said that the case has reached a stage where it was for the courts and not the government on preferring further investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Singh assured people that the state government will act on the directions of the court in the Kathua gangrape and murder case, adding that action will “definitely be taken”. “Now the case is with the court and government will act on the directions of the court. A thorough investigation should be done and the actual culprits should be found and pronounced guilty. Action will be definitely taken,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, government today forwarded to probe agencies an audio clip in which two people are heard discussing how money was collected purportedly in the name of the eight-year-old Kathua rape-and-murder victim but never reached her family.

In the audio clip, which has gone viral on social media, the two can be heard discussing that a huge sum of money was collected in the name of the victim but that her family did not get it.

The discussion in the audio clip also suggests that a fight has already begun among the people who helped collect funds in the name of the girl.

"I have heard the audio clip. When this clip came to me, I forwarded it to agencies for probing it," Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told reporters here.

Asked about a girl from Kulgam (Kashmir) alleging sexual exploitation by a politician, he said, "it has been brought to my notice now and I will verify it. Whosoever is the girl or the politician, justice will be done".

He said the Congress would play "disruptive politics" in Jammu and Kashmir in coming months and asked people to be cautious of its conspiracies.

The way the Congress played politics (over the Kathua case), it is an example of divisive politics of the party. A right-hand man of (Congress leader) Ghulam Nabi Azad was leading an agitation in Jammu and at the same time they were part of the candlelight march," Singh said, alluding to Jammu High Court Bar Association President B S Salathia.

Salathia has worked as the chief electoral agent of Ghulam Nabi Azad during the 2014 general elections, which Azad lost.

The eight-year-old girl had gone missing from near her home in the forests in Kathua on January 10. Her body was found in the area a week later. The J&K Police Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed a chargesheet against seven persons and a separate chargesheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district. The trial in the case began yesterday in a court, where they pleaded not guilty.