Three-year-old raped, strangulated to death

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, May 24

A three-year-old girl was abducted, raped and strangulated to death. Her body was dumped in a marshy drain in Kapashera in South West Delhi on Friday.

Police said it received a call at 8:51 PM on Thursday about a girl being kidnapped. The caller identified the accused wearing a T-shirt with the word ‘Shiva’ written on it and shorts.

A police team reached the spot and began a search operation after the victim’s mother filed a complaint. The accused was identified as Anil (34), a resident of Kapashera area.

“The mother stated that she has been staying in Kapashera with her family in a rented accommodation for the last five years. On Thursday, at about 6 PM, her 3-yr-old-daughter was playing in front of their house, when Anil who lives in their neighbourhood kidnapped the girl,” the officer stated.

A case was registered under Section 363 (kidnapping) and further search was conducted to trace the girl and the accused. After preliminary investigation, the police found that the accused had fled.

The police team obtained CCTV footage of the cameras in the vicinity of the victim’s house. In one of the cameras, at 7:05 PM, the accused was seen along with the girl going towards the ganda nullah (marshy drain) and in the same camera he was caught returning back alone without the girl at around 7:25 PM, another official said.

In the CCTV footage, the accused was seen moving towards Sohna in Haryana, the police team proceeded in that direction with the photographs of the alleged.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-West District, Rohit Meena, said, “Several buses and vehicles on that route were checked. Finally the accused was apprehended at about 11:55 PM from a bus heading towards his hometown Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.” The police interrogated him and he initially denied having played any role in the kidnapping of the child, an official said.

“However, after sustained interrogation he broke down and admitted having killed and dumped the little girl in a marshy drain located at the border of Gurugram and Kapashera,” the official said.

The accused then led the police team to the drain where the search for the body of the girl was conducted.

“After a long search operation lasting for more than an hour late at night the girl’s body was finally found in the marshy drain,” the DCP said.

“The accused tried to escape, grabbing a loaded service revolver of a police personnel, he then fired at the team. However, the police team fired back in self-defence and the accused received a bullet injury. The accused was taken to Indira Gandhi Hospital,” the DCP said.

The crime team and forensic teams were summoned at the spot and the dead body was examined. The accused was arrested and taken in judicial custody. Meanwhile, the post mortem conducted by the Medical Board revealed that she was raped and strangulated to death, an official said.

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