Jharkhand girl murder: Cops ‘played football’ with case for 7 months, says victim’s mother

RANCHI/BOKARO: All 28 cops at a police station in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district were suspended Sunday after the skeletal remains of an 18-year-old girl missing since July last year were found and the murder suspect was arrested — both within days of Jharkhand high court pulling up the DGP and district police over what the victim’s mother alleged was a compromised probe.The suspended officers include Pindrajora police station’s officer in-charge Abhishek Ranjan, investigating officer (IO) Aniket Kumar, SIs, ASIs and constables.The teenager was reported missing after leaving home on July 21, 2025, to submit an application at Chas College at Kurra in Bokaro district. Her mother said she visited Pindrajora police station that day but her complaint wasn’t accepted. Bokaro SP Harvinder Singh told the high court at a hearing last Friday that the case was reported on July 24 but the FIR wasn’t registered until Aug 4. The probe moved only after the victim's mother filed a habeas corpus plea in the high court this Feb. After successive hearings till April 7, a special investigation team and a one-member committee headed by DIG Sandhaya Rani Mehta was formed. The suspect, 26-year-old Dinesh Kumar Mahto, was arrested over the weekend.SP Singh said an internal probe revealed serious laps es and alleged misconduct by everyone at Pindrajora police station. “We have learnt that the accused was shielded in return for bribes in cash and kind.”The victim's mother, a daily-wage earner’s wife, told TOI after performing her daughter’s last rites, that police kept “playing football with the case” for seven months. “Right from the start, the OC and his men tried to discourage and intimidate us through various means to stop pursuing the case because they were bribed,” she said. Police said Dinesh had confessed to killing the teenager near Chas College after she allegedly pressured him for marriage. He claimed the two were in a relationship for nearly three years before breaking up.Accusations of police sabotage include an incident in Dec when an anonymous caller claimed to have seen the missing girl in Pune . The informant, a native of Gomia in Bokaro, was traced and asked to accompany the team to Pune.“On reaching Pune, cops told my husband that the informant had escaped and they will have to look for him first. They left my husband alone at the station. My husband's phone got stolen and he was stranded there. We arranged funds for his return after much trouble,” the bereaved mother said. She moved the high court with the help of local social workers.