Gangtok: In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old schoolgirl was allegedly sexually assaulted and then strangled to death by a cab driver in Gangtok on her way back home. Gangtok police have arrested Pritam Sharma (29), who originally hails from Bihar but drives a taxi in Gangtok, for the alleged crime that took place last week. A Special Investigation Team in Gangtok made the arrest on Monday.
The accused has been booked under IPC section 302 and sent to police remand for 14 days till May 1 by a local court. According to the police, the victim’s body was found on April 14 in a deserted forest near Pangthang, located on the periphery of Gangtok. The victim’s mother had lodged a missing report since April 10.
Police tracked down Pritam, who had been driving taxis in Gangtok for the past 10 years, on the basis of CCTV footage from various locations. Sharing details of the heinous crime, senior police officials said that during interrogation, the accused confessed to sexually assaulting and strangulating the victim.
Police said the accused had given the victim, who was in her school uniform, a lift in his taxi as it was raining, but took her to an isolated forest.
Addressing a press conference at Sadar police station, Special DGP of Sikkim Police Akshay Sachdeva said postmortem after the body was found at Pangthang revealed that the victim was strangulated and sexually assaulted.
The victim’s mother and her relatives have demanded that the accused be hanged. The incident has triggered huge anger among the local residents of Gangtok who have demanded the harshest punishment for the accused cab driver.