National-level kho kho player allegedly raped, found dead on railway track

Her body was discovered lying in a stream of blood with strangulation marks on her neck, and her clothes were dishevelled. Her family has alleged that she was raped.

Following their FIR, police registered a case against unidentified persons under section 376 (rape) and section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Kho Kho player from the Dalit community, who had gone for a job interview in a private school on Friday, did not return to her house for a long time. Her family members were worried and began looking for the woman.

In the afternoon, around 3 PM, one of their neighbours informed them that a girl had been found lying unconscious on a desolate stretch of the railway track.

The family reached the site and identified the girl. According to the family, the police refused to file an FIR initially on the grounds that the crime did not take place under their jurisdiction. They said the Government Railway Police (GRP) would have to look into the case.

The FIR was finally lodged at a GRP station 40 km from the spot after the intervention of local Bahujan Samaj Party leaders. A police investigation is underway at present, said Senior Superintendent of Police Aparna Gupta.

The victim, who used to work as a sports teacher at a government school, had represented two states in kho kho at the national level over the past five years. As a student, she also participated in inter-college competitions.