Overview

• Police recovered Class XII student Divya Sikarwar’s partially decomposed body from the Kwari/Kunwari river near Galetha, tied to a stone.
• Investigators say her father, Bharat (Bantu) Sikarwar, admitted transporting and dumping the body after initially offering conflicting accounts, including a ceiling-fan accident and suicide.
• Forensic examiners suspect a point-blank gunshot to the head, with the post-mortem slated in Gwalior to confirm cause of death and guide a murder case.
• The suspected weapon has not been found, and two younger siblings are reported missing as searches and questioning continue.
• Police are probing an honour-killing motive linked to the teen’s reported relationship with a youth from a backward caste, and are examining whether a family-registered pistol was involved.