Ono
12-29-2006, 04:23 PM
Six murdered children unearthed in India
ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press
NOIDA, India — Two men were arrested Friday after police found the decomposing bodies of at least six children buried behind a house outside New Delhi, officials said.
As police searched the property in Noida, a town east of the capital, word spread that as many as 38 children had gone missing in the last few years in the area, raising fears that dozens of bodies could be found.
There were also conflicting reports of how many bodies had already been unearthed at the house, with one police officer, who asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing, saying he had seen 12 skulls uncovered.
Earlier, local Police Chief R.K.S. Rathore said the alleged killer, a domestic servant at the house, confessed to luring at least six children to the home and killing them. He said the alleged assailant went by the names Satish or Surendra, but did not provide a full name for the man.
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/v5/images/icon/icon-comment.gifhttp://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20061229/windiamurder1229/1229noida209.jpg A crowd gathers outside the house where bodies of six children was recovered, at Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 29, 2006. Indian police on Friday arrested two men after finding the decomposing bodies of at least six children buried behind a house, officials said. As many as 38 children had gone missing in the past few years in the area, raising fears that dozens of bodies could be found. (Mustafa Quraishi/AP Photo)
Mr. Rathore said the owner of the house, Mohinder Singh, had also been arrested, although investigators had not yet determined if he had any direct role in the killings.
According to Mr. Rathore, Mr. Satish told them that he lured the children to the house with the promise of chocolate and sweets so he could sexually assault and kill them.
Mr. Satish was found with a missing girl's mobile phone, and suspicious police went to the house, Mr. Rathore said. There, they were tipped off to the presence of bodies by the smell of decomposing corpses, Mr. Rathore told reporters.
Within hours of the grisly find, police were using a back-hoe and bulldozer to help them dig through the yard and reports were filtering out that the remains of dozens more children might be buried at the house.
“We have been pursuing with police the case of these 38 children who have been missing,” said Satish Chandra Mishra, a former president of the local residents' association.
Like many of the thousands of people who gathered at the scene, he feared that most of the missing children had ended up at the house and been killed.
Among the onlookers were parents of missing children, most of them poor domestic workers.
Sunita Kumari, who irons clothes for a living, said her 10-year-old old daughter, Jyoti, had been missing for 19 months. “I have no clue what happened to my daughter. I sent her to the tailor and she's been missing since then,” she said.
Durga Prasad, a driver, said his seven-year-old daughter, Arti, has been missing since Sept. 25. He sent her out to buy candies and she never came back.
“The police tell us they're looking and asked us to keep looking too, but we have no news about our child,” Mr. Prasad said.
Usha Thakur, who runs the Shivsagar Mishra Manav Trust, a group that works with poor people in the neighbourhood, said police had repeatedly brushed off reports of missing children.
“Because these are poor people the police even refuse to register cases for the missing children,” Ms. Thakur said in a telephone interview from Calcutta, where she is currently travelling.
“I and other people have been after the police to do something about these missing children of poor people but they haven't bothered,” she said.
Police officials offered no comment about the allegations, but CNN-IBN reported that a midlevel commander in the neighbourhood was suspended hours after the bodies were found.
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ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press
NOIDA, India — Two men were arrested Friday after police found the decomposing bodies of at least six children buried behind a house outside New Delhi, officials said.
As police searched the property in Noida, a town east of the capital, word spread that as many as 38 children had gone missing in the last few years in the area, raising fears that dozens of bodies could be found.
There were also conflicting reports of how many bodies had already been unearthed at the house, with one police officer, who asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing, saying he had seen 12 skulls uncovered.
Earlier, local Police Chief R.K.S. Rathore said the alleged killer, a domestic servant at the house, confessed to luring at least six children to the home and killing them. He said the alleged assailant went by the names Satish or Surendra, but did not provide a full name for the man.
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/v5/images/icon/icon-comment.gifhttp://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20061229/windiamurder1229/1229noida209.jpg A crowd gathers outside the house where bodies of six children was recovered, at Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 29, 2006. Indian police on Friday arrested two men after finding the decomposing bodies of at least six children buried behind a house, officials said. As many as 38 children had gone missing in the past few years in the area, raising fears that dozens of bodies could be found. (Mustafa Quraishi/AP Photo)
Mr. Rathore said the owner of the house, Mohinder Singh, had also been arrested, although investigators had not yet determined if he had any direct role in the killings.
According to Mr. Rathore, Mr. Satish told them that he lured the children to the house with the promise of chocolate and sweets so he could sexually assault and kill them.
Mr. Satish was found with a missing girl's mobile phone, and suspicious police went to the house, Mr. Rathore said. There, they were tipped off to the presence of bodies by the smell of decomposing corpses, Mr. Rathore told reporters.
Within hours of the grisly find, police were using a back-hoe and bulldozer to help them dig through the yard and reports were filtering out that the remains of dozens more children might be buried at the house.
“We have been pursuing with police the case of these 38 children who have been missing,” said Satish Chandra Mishra, a former president of the local residents' association.
Like many of the thousands of people who gathered at the scene, he feared that most of the missing children had ended up at the house and been killed.
Among the onlookers were parents of missing children, most of them poor domestic workers.
Sunita Kumari, who irons clothes for a living, said her 10-year-old old daughter, Jyoti, had been missing for 19 months. “I have no clue what happened to my daughter. I sent her to the tailor and she's been missing since then,” she said.
Durga Prasad, a driver, said his seven-year-old daughter, Arti, has been missing since Sept. 25. He sent her out to buy candies and she never came back.
“The police tell us they're looking and asked us to keep looking too, but we have no news about our child,” Mr. Prasad said.
Usha Thakur, who runs the Shivsagar Mishra Manav Trust, a group that works with poor people in the neighbourhood, said police had repeatedly brushed off reports of missing children.
“Because these are poor people the police even refuse to register cases for the missing children,” Ms. Thakur said in a telephone interview from Calcutta, where she is currently travelling.
“I and other people have been after the police to do something about these missing children of poor people but they haven't bothered,” she said.
Police officials offered no comment about the allegations, but CNN-IBN reported that a midlevel commander in the neighbourhood was suspended hours after the bodies were found.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...rnational/home (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061229.windiamurder1229/BNStory/International/home)