The mother and one of the brothers of an 8-year-old girl who was recently found dead in a river in southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır after a days-long search were arrested by a court on Thursday, bringing the number of those arrested in connection to the murder to 10.
Narin Güran had disappeared on August 21. Her body was found on September 8 in a sack in a river in Diyarbakır, around one kilometer from the village where she lived with her family.
The girl’s uncle, Salim Güran, also the mukhtar of the village, was arrested on September 3 on suspicion of murder and deprivation of liberty after DNA samples taken from his car matched DNA on the girl’s clothes.
More than 20 people including the girl’s family members were detained following the discovery of her body. Nine of the suspects including her parents were referred to court for arrest earlier on Thursday.
The court ruled for the arrest of mother Yüksel Güran and brother Enes Güran in addition to six other of the girl’s relatives.
The mother and brother were arrested due to evidence leading to a strong suspicion about their involvement in the murder in addition to their contradictory statements.
The girl’s father, who was also in detention, was released from police custody on Thursday.
Turkish media outlets, which have been running speculative stories about the motive and perpetrators of the murder for days, have focused on an alleged affair between the girl’s mother and uncle as the reason for the murder, presumably because the girl witnessed it.
The mother in her statement to the prosecutor denied having an affair with her brother-in-law but could not explain the two phone calls she made to him on the day of the murder.
The girl’s father, Arif, wants the killer of his daughter to be punished regardless of whether it is his wife or brother.
Yet, the father ruled out the likelihood of an affair with his wife and brother.
Earlier, in addition to Salim Güran, a village resident, Nevzat Bahtiyar, was also arrested after confessing to disposing of Narin’s body for the uncle in exchange for TL 200,000 (around $6,000).
The murder of Narin and the authorities’ failure to locate her body for 19 days have led to criticism and raised suspicions about a coverup of the murder.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Diyarbakır, İstanbul and several other cities this week demanding justice for the little girl.
Narin was laid to rest on Monday in the village where she went missing after an autopsy was conducted on Sunday at the Diyarbakır Council of Forensic Medicine.