School student sexually assaulted and murdered in Sikkim, taxi driver held: Accused is a permanent resident of Bihar

Court granted police remand for the accused for 14 days until May1

DICHEN ONGMU, EOI, GANGTOK, APRIL 18, 2023 :  A 11-year-old school girl from Sichey area was murdered last week after being sexually assaulted by a 29year old taxi driver, a permanent resident of Bihar. 

The accused has been booked under section 302IPC. The Chief Judicial Magistrate at Gangtok District Court granted police remandfor the accused for 14 days until May1.

The driver was arrested on Monday, within 72 hours of the recovery of the body. SDGP Law and Order of Sikkim Police Akshay Sachdeva said in a news conference on Tuesday that the body of the minor girl was found in Fambonglo village, near Pangthang on April 14. The victim's mother had reported her missing on April 11, after she did not return home from school on April 10.

Four days later, a local resident found the body while gathering firewood and informed the Lingdok Police Out Post. Upon showing the photos of the body to the parents, the police identified the victim based on a necklace she was wearing, the official added.“ 

The police immediately formed a Special Investigating team and began investigating by looking at CCTV footage from the Tamang Gumpaarea, Sichey, where the victim had reportedly boarded a taxi to go home. 

They spoke with different taxi drivers and their unions to find out how a Tamang Gumpa resident had ended up dead in the Pangthang forest,” narrated SDGP Sachdeva.The investigation finally led them to Pritam Sharma, a 29-year-old taxi driver who had been working for over 10 years in the area. 

He was intercepted in the Ranipool police station area and brought in for questioning. After an interrogation lasting two to three hours, Sharma admitted to strangling and sexually assaulting the child, informed the SDGP.“

As per the accused the minor deceased was returning from school on foot when the accused driver first saw her, thereafter he offered her lift in his vehicle. Upon reaching her house the deceased minor asked him to stop the car but the accused lured her to another location and took her to the isolated Fambonglo forest area. He then bought her juice before sexually assaulting her and later strangling her with his bare hands. 

He then tied her neck with the school uniform’s tie which the deceased was wearing”, informed the SDGP. 

The police promised to ensure that the culprit received the harshest and strictest punishment from the court of law. 

The victim's mother and her relatives demanded that Sharma be hanged. 

Meanwhile, common people held a public gathering in solidarity with the victim outside the Sadar Police Station and the District Court. Some of them attacked the accused while he was being brought for police remand to District Court.