By IANS,
Kolkata : The skeleton of a six-year-old girl, who had gone missing in September, was found at a village in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district Sunday, police said.
The skeleton was found inside a betel leaf plantation at Kawtla village under Dholahat police station.
“The skeleton of Astami Bajkhan has been recovered from a betel leaf plantation at Kawtla in the morning. She was missing since early September,” a police official at Dholahat police station told reporters.
The officer further said: “It is clear that the skeleton was thrown there yesterday (Saturday) night or else the plantation farmers would have discovered it long back. But only after investigation can we say if she was murdered or not.”
Astami’s parents, however, alleged that she died due to negligence on the part of the police.
“We are sure that someone must have kidnapped and killed our daughter. We lodged a missing complaint at the Dholahat police station in September. But every time we enquired about her, they said there are so many pending missing cases and it’s not possible to work on a new one. It’s due to their sheer negligence that our child is no more,” said Bhola, Astami’s father.
But even he is not sure why anyone would kill his daughter.
“I still don’t understand why should anyone kidnap or kill our daughter. We are too poor to pay any ransom. Besides, every one in the village loved her very much,” he added.