“She is like my granddaughter”: Sanji Ram

In the rape and murder of the 8-year-old girl in Kathua, the main accused, Sanji Ram, reportedly told the Supreme Court that he was innocent and the girl was like his granddaughter. He also reportedly requested the probe to be handed over to the CBI to get to the "real culprits".
 

With an alleged aim towards driving out her Bakerwal community in January, the 8-year-old girl, was kidnapped, sedated and gang raped repeatedly for days before her head was bashed with stone. The brutality of the crime came before to the country after the chilling details the minor’s murder emerged over the past month.