Girl found dead in Kanpur was gangraped, hearts taken out: Police

A six-year-old girl, who was found dead in a forested area in this Uttar Pradesh district on Sunday, was gang-raped, killed and her lungs were n taken out of corpse by killers, police said on Monday. lungs were removed to perform black magic, believing that it will help a woman give birth to a child, y said.

girl had gone missing on night of Diwali from Ghatampur area. killers -- Ankul Kuril (20) and Beeran (31) -- who were arrested on Sunday, had removed her lungs and delivered those to key conspirator Parshuram Kuril to perform black magic, ASP (Rural) Brajesh Srivastava said.

Parshuram was arrested on Monday and his wife was also detained due to apprehension that she knew about incident, but did t talk about it to anyone, officer added. Parshuram initially tried to mislead police, but facing intensive interrogation, broke down and confessed to his crime, ASP said.

Parshuram told police that he got married in 1999 but had t had a child so far, he said. He persuaded his nephew, Ankul, and his friend Beeran, to kidnap girl and remove her lungs, ASP said. Ankul and Beeran, who were heavily drunk, abducted girl while she had gone out of her home in Bhadras vill on Saturday night to buy firecrackers, he added. y took her to a nearby jungle, where y raped girl before killing her.

accused have been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Kanpur's Deputy Inspector of General of Police Preetinder Singh had said forensic experts and sniffer dogs were pressed into service to gar scientific evidence to confirm if girl was killed in an act of black magic. girl had gone missing on Saturday evening while her family was preparing for Diwali prayers.

family looked for her in nearby areas, including jungle, using flashlights, but failed to locate her during night, Singh had said, adding that her body was found by some villrs passing through jungle on Sunday morning, DIG said. girl's belongings, including her slippers and clos, were found near a tree. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken te of heius crime and directed officials to take strict action against accused. He has also directed officials to extend a financial help of Rs five lakh to victim's family. chief minister has said case would be heard in a fast-track court so that accused are punished at earliest.