New Delhi: The Delhi Police filed a 400 page charge sheet against a crematorium priest and three others for alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in the Delhi Cantonment area earlier this month.


The case has been filed in a Delhi court on Saturday.


After the charge sheet was filed by the Delhi Police, the Union Home Ministry said that it shows the Narendra Modi government's commitment to act speedily to ensure stringent punishment for those committing crimes against women and girls, as reported by PTI


The charge sheet has been kept for consideration of the court concerned for August 31. The case will be tried by a fast-track court.


Who are the accused?


The 400-page final report named Radhey Shyam, the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium in South-West district, and its employees -- Kuldeep Singh, Salim Ahmad and Laxmi Narayan as accused -- claiming there was sufficient evidence against them.


The accused were charged under sections 302 (murder), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 376D (gang rape), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.


The four have also been charge-sheeted under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Section 3 (offences of atrocities) of the SC/ST Act, as reported by PTI.


All the accused are currently in judicial custody.


When did the incident happen?


A nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped, murdered, and forcibly cremated by a priest and three employees of a crematorium in Nangal village of Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi on August 1, the police had said.


The case was registered on August 2, a day after the incident. The Home Ministry had issued an order to the Delhi Police to conduct a speedy investigation and file its chargesheet within thirty days of registering the case.


The final report also includes a report by the special investigating team, which was formed by the crime branch for expeditious and professional investigation.