Delhi: 13-year-old girl killed by her neighbour during house robbery

A 22-year-old man was arrested for killing his 13-year-old neighbor in Dabri, Delhi, during a burglary; he aimed to sell her stolen phone for drugs.

A 22-year-old man was arrested for allegedly breaking into his 13-year-old neighbour’s home, killing her and stealing electronic devices, at Dabri in southwest Delhi on Thursday, police said on Saturday.

(Representational image)

The accused, who was previously arrested in a theft case and released on bail in March, was planning to sell the cellphone for ₹500 to buy heroin, police added.

Police said that an initial autopsy has ruled out that the girl was sexually assaulted. Doctors who first examined the girl at a government hospital also said there were no signs of sexual assault, police said.

“The accused is linked to at least 30 theft cases. He came out of jail on bail in a snatching case in March. The girl lived with her mother and three siblings in a fourth floor flat of a building in Sitapuri in Dabri. Her mother and two elder siblings work in different factories in southwest Delhi. At the time of the murder on Thursday morning, the girl was alone at home as her mother and siblings had gone for work,” said joint commissioner of police (western range) Jatin Narwal.

At around 1.30pm, the girl’s mother returned home for lunch and found her daughter lying unconscious inside the flat, and the house partially ransacked, with a mobile phone and tablet computer missing. The woman raised the alarm and informed her neighbours, who rushed the girl to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead. Locals informed the police about the incident. The girl’s mother told police that the girl’s hands and feet had been tied, but police found the body untied upon arrival.

Police discovered that the stolen phone was active in southwest Delhi. They tracked it down and found it in the possession of the accused and arrested him. The accused was using the cellphone with the SIM card of his friend.

During interrogation, police said, the accused confessed to murdering the minor girl while robbing her house. The accused said he was trying to sell the phone to his friend for ₹500, police said. The stolen tablet was also recovered from his possession, police said.

“The accused said that he lives two houses away from the building where the girl lived. He said that his family knew the girl’s family. He planned to steal some items from their house. On Thursday at 11.30am, he broke into the fourth floor flat but the girl raised an alarm. He panicked, overpowered and strangulated the girl. He then stole the mobile phone and tablet and fled,” the officer added.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that the minor girl lived with her mother, an 18-year-old sister who works in a factory, and two brothers—one aged 12, who is a school student, and the other, 16, who works as a delivery agent. The girl was a Class 7 student at a government school. Her father passed away several years ago.

“On Thursday morning, the elder sister had left for work. The younger brother was not at home either. The mother told us she had stepped out with her elder son for some work, leaving the girl alone at home,” an officer said.