Two minor girls who were found dead in their house in Bhosari, had been sexually assaulted, the police said on Monday, following a post-mortem.
The girls, seven- and nine-years-old, students of Class 2 and Class 3, respectively, were found hanging from a hook, along with their brother, aged six, also dead.
Their mother was found dead in the second room of the two-room house, also hanging from a hook. “We encountered injury marks on their bodies, which pointed towards sexual assault. We had the doctors confirm it,” said senior police inspector Shankar Awtade of Bhosari police station. “We are questioning the father of the girls as a suspect in the matter,” he added.
While the father is a suspect in the sexual assault case, the police suspect that the mother killed her own children. The doctors said that the girls were subjected to sexual assault only hours before their death, according to police. Their bodies were discovered on Sunday evening between 4:30pm-5pm, when the father, who claims to have left the house at 10:30am, came home.
The bodies were taken for post-mortem at the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) hospital.
As the Bhosari police station did not have a female officer in its employ, a female police sub-inspector from the Pimpri police station was called in to help with the procedure during which the injury marks on the girls’ body were found. Deputy commissioner of police Smita Patil of Zone-1 of Pimpri-Chinchwad police was also present.
The girls’ father is a fruit-seller who had moved to Bhosari with his family four days before the incident. The family was in financial trouble, according to police.
The police initially believed that the mother allegedly took the drastic step due to financial trouble. However, sexual assault of the girls has now opened a new line of investigation in the case.
A case under Sections 302, 376 of IPC and sections of Pocso Act has been registered.
WhatsApp us