Cop's teen daughter ends life over shoplifting allegations in Chhattisgarh's Koriya; three booked

Koriya, Jul 9 (PTI) A constable's 17-year-old daughter allegedly died by suicide after a shopping mart owner accused her of stealing cosmetics, confiscated her scooter and demanded money for its return in Chhattisgarh's Koriya district, a police official said on Thursday. The Class XI student was found hanging in the kitchen of her house in Police Lines under Baikunthpur police station limits on Wednesday afternoon, the official said. "The girl had visited IC Mart at Sanjay Chowk with her younger sister on July 7 to purchase household items. The mart owner allegedly accused her of attempting to steal cosmetic items, although the sisters had not left the store with the goods. The owner allegedly made the girl and her sister write and sign a statement admitting to theft, and confiscated the scooter they had arrived on," he said. The owner allegedly told the sisters the scooter would not be returned unless money was paid, the official said, adding the girl did not disclose the incident to her family but instead informed an assistant sub-inspector known to her. The ASI later contacted the mart owner and asked him to return the scooter, but the latter allegedly said it had been sent elsewhere and could be collected the following morning, the official informed. Constable Shivnath Singh Paikra, the girl's father, said he visited the mart after learning about the incident on Wednesday morning and alleged the shop owner demanded Rs 50,000 for returning the scooter. While he had gone to receive his wife at the bus stand on Wednesday afternoon, his daughter allegedly committed suicide at home, Paikra said. "The girl went into depression after being accused of theft and being pressured over the scooter. She could not tell her father because she was afraid she would be scolded. The mart owner had no authority to confiscate the scooter or act on his own instead of informing the police," Koriya Superintendent of Police Ravi Kumar Kurre said. A case was registered against IC Mart owners Deepak Vaid, Vinod Vaid and Jagat Vaid under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for abetment of suicide of a child, extortion, robbery and obscene acts, as well as other offences, as per police. The supermarket has been sealed, while a cyber forensic team examined CCTV footage and other evidence from the premises, they said. Meanwhile, kin of police personnel staged a protest outside Baikunthpur police station and later blocked a road for about half an hour, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused. The blockade was lifted after senior officials pacified the agitators. PTI COR TKP BNM