A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a priest and three male employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment in south-west Delhi on Sunday. The four then hurriedly cremated the body without the consent of the parents, whom they led into believing that the girl was electrocuted. All the four men have been arrested after the girl’s family expressed suspicion that she may have been sexually assaulted, police said.

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According to the police, the suspects allegedly told the girl’s mother that the child was electrocuted to death. They also misled the family, telling them that if a police case is filed they would register a case and send the body for an autopsy, where doctors will take out her vital organs and sell them, the police said.

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They four men were identified as Radhey Shyam, the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium, and three employees Salim, Laxmi Narayan and Kuldeep, who are all known to the girl’s mother.

The girl who lived across the crematorium with her parents and would often go there to fetch water. On Sunday, around 5.30 pm, she went to fetch cold water from the water cooler installed at the crematorium. Half an hour later, the priest and the three men called the girl’s mother and showed her the child’s body, telling her that she had been electrocuted while filling the water, the police said.

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“They told her that the girl was electrocuted to death while having water from the cooler. They showed her the burn marks on her daughter’s wrist and elbow, and said her lips had turned blue. The four men asked the girl’s mother to not inform the police about the death. They told her that the police will register a case and the body will be sent for an autopsy, during which doctors will remove her vital organs and sell them,” said DCP Singh, reports hindustantimes.com

The four then hastily cremated the body. But, nearly 200 villagers reached the crematorium on Sunday night and protested till Monday evening, demanding that the arrested persons be booked on rape and murder charges.

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According to a neighbour, the residents came to know about the incident when the girl’s parents raised an alarm and told them that their daughter’s body was cremated without their permission.

The four men were then booked for murder, rape and criminal intimidation.