Kathua MLA goes missing after being interrogated on 8-year-old's gangrape

The eight-year-old girl belonging to a nomadic Muslim tribe in Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir was allegedly abducted, drugged, raped, tortured and killed in January.

ANI photo

SRINAGAR: A Kathua BJP MLA went missing after he was interrogated about the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in his constituency in Jammu and Kashmir. Identified as Rajiv Jasrotia, the MLA has been missing since the last two days.

An eight-year-old girl in Kathua was allegedly gang-raped by six men who had held her hostage in a village temple for a week in January 2018. The girl belonging to a nomadic Muslim tribe in the district was sedated time and again before being killed. She was abducted on January 10, she was strangled to death on January 14 and her body was found on January 17.

News agency ANI had earlier tried to contact the BJP MLA to take his stance over the case. He, however, evaded the question and sent a text message saying, "Sir, I am going to the hospital as my mother-in-law is not well."

The mobile phone of the BJP MLA has also been switched off since then.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that the investigations are on the fast track, adding that the justice will soon be delivered in the case.

(With inputs from ANI)