A 17-year-old girl was found dead in the kitchen of her home in Chhattisgarh’s Baikunthpur district, police said, adding that her family claimed she died by suicide after supermarket owners confiscated her scooter and demanded from her. $50 thousand pounds for stealing cosmetics.
The police said that the girl and her sister were in the supermarket to buy household items when they were accused of stealing. They added that the sisters did not leave the store, but the owners, Deepak Vaid, Vinod Vaid and Jagat Vaid, forced them to sign a statement admitting to the theft and confiscated the scooter.
Police said the scooter owners told the sisters that the scooter would not be returned unless they paid the money. The two did not inform their families about the matter and instead informed an assistant sub-inspector known to them. ASI contacted the supermarket owners and asked them to return the scooter. But they claimed the scooter was somewhere else and could be picked up the next morning.
The girl’s father, a policeman, said he visited the supermarket on Wednesday morning and claimed that the owners repeated the request $50,000. He added that his daughter, an eleventh-grade student, hanged herself in the kitchen of their home on Wednesday evening while he was heading to the bus stop to receive his wife.
Police Superintendent Ravi Kumar Kuri said that the girl became depressed after being accused of theft and was subjected to pressure on the scooter. “She couldn’t tell her father because she was afraid she would be reprimanded.” Currie said supermarket owners had no authority to confiscate the scooter or act on their own instead of informing the police.
The police detained the supermarket owners under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to abetment to suicide of a child and extortion, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The supermarket is closed. The cyber forensics team examined CCTV footage and other evidence at the supermarket.
The girl’s family organized a protest in front of the police station and closed the road for about half an hour, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused. The blockade was lifted after senior police officers assured them that the necessary measures would be taken.
