CHATRA: Police on Thursday evening stopped the cremation of a 15-year-old girl, took custody of her body and sent it for an autopsy at the Chatra sadar hospital after her uncle alleged she was poisoned by her father and stepmother.
The girl, identified as Sushma Kumari, was a resident of Nebhi village under Pratappur police station limits.
Her father Pramod Saw was minutes away from lighting her pyre when the cops stepped in and stopped the cremation taking place at the banks of Kaura Morhar river.
Naim Ansari, the officer in-charge of Pratappur police station, said a complaint was filed by her maternal uncle Amol Kumar.
“When Kumar heard about Sushma’s death, he rang up Saw and asked the latter to not cremate her body until he arrived but Saw reportedly took Sushma’s corpse in a hurry to the riverbank for the cremation.
Suspecting foulplay, Kumar contacted police,” Ansari said.
Kumar reportedly told police that Sushma was being tortured by her father and stepmother.
Saw had remarried in 2010, two years after Kumar’s sister Manju Devi died.
Besides Sushma, Saw and Manju had another son.