Even as the Surat police are groping in dark about identity of the body of a young girl found in the bushes a week back, Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja gave a new twist to the rape and murder mystery by suggesting that the victim was probably from Odisha.

The mutilated body of an estimated 11-year-old girl, allegedly raped and tortured, has caused a sensation in the state with women’s groups and civil rights organisations hitting the streets with massive protests.

The Minister, however, gave no reasoning behind his loud thinking or how does the victim being from Odisha make the crime any different.

“The comment by the Minister (the Odisha link) makes no sense. It is only meant to shirk their responsibility to grab the culprits”, state convenor of All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS) Ms Meenakshi Joshi told The Statesman on Monday.

AIMSS is one of the dozen-odd organisations which are holding a protest demonstration near the Jhansi Ki Rani statue in western part of the city this evening.

The Minister of State for Home said that the Gujarat Government has contacted the Director General of Police (DGP) of Odisha about the matter and also checked more than 8,000 pictures of missing children all over.

Posters of the victim’s photo have also been displayed all over the city, the Minister said adding that CCTV recordings of vehicular movements and mobile call records of the area are also being checked to close in on the perpetrators of the crime.

READ | 9-year-old unidentifed girl raped, killed; body with 86 injuries found

In Surat and many other cities, several people have held candle light marches on Sunday while protests are being held in Ahmedabad and other places on Monday.

PTI adds from Bhubaneswar: Suspecting that an unidentified girl, whose body was found in Surat 10 days ago with signs of rape and torture, could be from Odisha, all the superintendents of police (SPs) in the state were on Monday asked to collect information on the missing girls in their jurisdictions.

The basis of the suspicion was that a large number of people migrated from Odisha to Surat, Director General of Police (DGP) R P Sharma told reporters in Bhubaneswar.