Ludhiana: Man held for thrashing five-year-old to death

Police arrest labourer for murder of 5-year-old girl within 36 hours of recovering the body. The accused allegedly attempted to molest the girl.

Police cracked the murder of a 5-year-old girl with the arrest of a labourer within 36 hours of recovering the child’s body.

The child lived with her father at the rented accommodation. (iStock)

The accused, who was a friend to the victim’s father, had allegedly attempted to molest the girl, probe officials said. As per police, the accused allegedly thrashed the child to death when she resisted and began to cry. He later dumped her body in the agricultural fields.

The accused has been identified as a native of Bihar. He worked as a labourer at fields for a farmer in Mandialan Kalan along with the deceased child’s father.

Sadar Khanna police registered a first information report (FIR) against the accused following the complaint of the deceased’s father.

Sharing details about the case, superintendent of police (SP, investigation) Pragya Jain said the girl lived with her father in a room near the agricultural fields in Mandialan Kalan. On May 11, the girl went missing and her father reached out to the police and lodged a complaint at Sadar station a day later.

A wrongful confinement had at the time been registered against unidentified accused, following which, police initiated an investigation.

“On Sunday, police arrested the accused, who confessed to the crime. The accused stated that on May 11, he took the girl to the fields and molested her. The girl had started crying, following which he thrashed her to death. Later, he dumped the body in the fields and returned to room,” the SP said.

“To avoid suspicion, the accused maintained contact with the child’s father,” she added.

The child lived with her father at the rented accommodation. Her mother had died due to cancer when she was still an infant.