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Ludhiana: UP man ‘rapes’, murders 4-year-old girl, stuffs body in box bed
Kin of the victim along with locals staged a protest against the police, seeking arrest of the accused. The protesters laid siege on Giaspura-Lohara Road in the evening and shouted slogans against the police
A UP man allegedly ‘raped’ and strangled to death a 4-year-old girl at Daba Road before dumping the body in the box bed of the house, police said on Friday.
The incident happened on Thursday and the police recovered the body from the box bed on Thursday night. The FIR was lodged against the accused, identified as Sonu, 25, under section 302 of the IPC.
On Friday, kin of the victim along with locals staged a protest against the police, seeking arrest of the accused. The protesters laid siege on Giaspura-Lohara Road in the evening and shouted slogans against the police. They alleged that the police did not hand over the dead body of the girl to them. The police tried to pacify the protesters, but they have refused to lift the protest till the arrest of the accused.
The victim had come to Ludhiana with her aunt (mother’s sister) from Muzaffargarh in Bihar few days ago, to meet her maternal grandparents. The accused, who is from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, had come to Ludhiana to see his cousin Ashok Kumar in the neighbourhood. Sonu, who had lost both his parents, had stayed with Ashok in the past for a few months and had worked here as a labour. But he had left the city and had gone back to Fatehpur.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP, rural) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja said that on Thursday morning, the victim’s maternal grandfather, who runs a tea stall near the house, was at the shop. He had also taken the girl along with him at the stall. Meanwhile, the accused came there and lured the girl with a chocolate and took her along. The accused took the girl to the house of his cousin, who was at work, and committed the crime. The accused stuffed the body in the box bed
“Meanwhile, the kin of the victim alerted police when they did not get a trace of the girl and filed a missing report. The police initiated investigation and scanned the CCTVs installed in the area, in which the accused was captured taking the girl along with him. The accused escaped from the area after the crime,” said the DCP.
“The police searched the house where he was staying and found the dead body in the box bed,” he said, addign that they suspect that the girl has been raped before being murdered.
However, the doctors who conducted a postmortem on the body revealed that the victim was sexually assaulted before being murdered.
The DCP added that the accused was also captured in the CCTV escaping from the house after locking. Various police teams have been formed to trace the accused.
Accused accompany family to file missing complaint
After the family started looking for the girl, the accused joined them in the search. He also accompanied the family to the police station for filing a missing report. Later, when the police intensified the search, the accused fled after locking the house.
