Surat rape case: Family comes forward to claim girl

A family from Andhra Pradesh has come forward to claim the girl, who was found dead with multiple injuries near Jiaav Budiya road in Pandesara on April 6, as their daughter. The family got to know about her through the social media. The family said that their daughter had gone missing last year in October. They had also lodged a complaint with the local police station.

On Tuesday, Surat police was contacted by the Andhra police, after the family came forward to claim the girl. They showed the Aadhaar card of the girl to the police to verify their daughter.

The parents of the girl were brought to Surat by the Andhra Pradesh police.

Satish Sharma, Police Commissioner of Surat, said: "The family has come forward, claiming that the 11-year-old girl is their daughter. The family has already reached Surat. The girl's DNA sample will be matched with her parents before reaching a conclusion. The parents have also shown an Aadhaar card of the girl, but we will go through the DNA test first."

Further investigation into the matter is on. The family claims that their daughter was kidnapped from nearby their house in October 2017, while she was playing.

On April 6, a minor was found with 86 injury marks on her body. The police said that prima facie it looked like a case of sexual assault. They said the girl was tortured for eight days before she was killed. The post-mortem report revealed that the girl had been strangled to death. Police have lodged an FIR under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 376 (rape) of the IPC and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, against unidentified persons in the matter.