Pune: A teenage Dalit girl who had witnessed her house being burnt during the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Pune earlier this year, was found dead in a well on Sunday, with her family alleging she was under a lot of pressure to withdraw her statement against the culprits.
A day after her family reported her missing, the body of 19-year-old Pooja Sakat was found in a well near her house in Bhima Koregaon village on Sunday morning.
Her family has alleged that some persons, whom she had named as culprits in her statement to the police after the house was torched on January 1, were threatening her to withdraw her statement.
According to news agency PTI, police have registered a case of abetment of suicide under IPC Section 306 and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but no one has been arrested yet.
An officer, however, chose not to disclose the accused's names.
There were no injury marks on her body, the officer said. No suicide note was recovered and further probe was on, he added.
Dalits visiting the War Memorial at Bhima Koregaon for commemorating the bicentenary of an 1818 victory of the East India Company over the Peshwa's forces came under attack on January 1 this year. One person was killed and property worth crores was damaged.
Sakat family's house was burnt during the violence and the family is living in a rented house since then, the police officer said.
Dalit groups commemorate the 1818 battle as the East India Company's army consisted of Mahars, a Dalit community, who defeated the upper-caste Peshwa's forces. However, some Hindutva organisations had opposed the commemoration this time.
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