A week after recovering the headless body of a young girl from Ormanjhi, Ranchi police got a breakthrough in this blind case. On Monday, it released four different pictures of one Sheikh Bilal, seeking information about his whereabouts, after announcing him as the prime accused in the case.
The lead came after a lady from Chatwal village, which falls under Chanho police station in Ranchi, contacted the police, suspecting that the recovered body was that of her daughter. On Monday morning, the police have initiated a DNA test for the headless body, following which they released a communiqué bearing Bilal’s pictures. The accused is a resident of Chandwe basti, which falls under Pithoria police station of Ranchi.
The communiqué read, “Sheikh Bilal is wanted in connection with the murder of a girl, whose headless body was found in a naked condition in Ormanjhi. He is currently absconding. Anyone giving information about his whereabouts will be rewarded. His identity will be kept confidential. On the other hand, if anyone tries to help him, he/she will be tried under relevant sections of IPC.”
Sources in Ranchi police said that the lady who claimed that the deceased is her daughter had identified her on the basis of a burn mark (on one of her legs), which the deceased suffered during her childhood while working in the kitchen.
The lady also told police that her daughter had married her lover, from the neighbouring village 10 months back. However, the two went their separate ways two months back after her daughter learned that he was already married. After returning to her maternal house, her daughter fell in love with Sheikh Bilal. However, she was living with her.
Police communiqué bearing Bilal’s pictures The Telegraph Picture
“We are waiting for the DNA report, but considering the circumstantial evidence provided by the deceased’s mother, we are of the view that the deceased is her daughter. Once we catch hold of Bilal, anything further can be said,” remarked a senior cop, unwilling to be identified.
Notably, the murder incident triggered massive outrage in Ranchi. The ruling and the opposition camps fired salvos at each other over the growing ‘lawlessness’ in the state. Many protests and demonstrations were staged across the district since then by different social groups and also BJP. One such protest organized at Kishoreganj chowk last Monday turned violent after agitators attacked chief minister Hemant Soren’s pilot car, thereby raising a question mark over police’s intelligence gathering mechanism. While the ruling JMM and Congress accused BJP of orchestrating attacks on CM, the saffron camp blamed the state government for trying to silence dissent. On Sunday, BJP also demanded a CBI probe into the case.
