A lawyer defending some of the accused in the Kathua rape-and-murder case today claimed that "jihadis" are behind the gruesome incident and that the body of the eight-year-old girl had been planted to change the religious demography of the Jammu and Kashmir.
The allegation, for which Ankur Sharma had no substantial evidence to support, came a day after the complainant in the case finished recording his statement before the district and sessions court at Pathankot, during which he said Sanji Ram, one of the main accused, had been targeting the nomadic community so that they don't settle in the village.
Sharma, one of the lawyers defending the accused in the Kathua rape-and-murder case, asked Governor N N Vohra to immediately order a CBI enquiry into the case.
However, judicial experts expressed surprise at the claims and demands from the lawyer as the case had been entrusted to the district and sessions court on the directions of the Supreme Court and the trial court had already framed charges against the accused.
In his opening remarks, Sharma said the case should be handed over to the CBI because "jihadis have committed the murder and planted the body there and the murder has been committed to change the religious demography of the area."