Man held for raping, killing three-year-old girl
Mumbai: A 26-year-old was arrested for allegedly raping and killing a three-year-old girl in Katai village in Bhiwandi on Sunday night
Mumbai: A 26-year-old was arrested for allegedly raping and killing a three-year-old girl in Katai village in Bhiwandi on Sunday night.
The accused has been identified as Bhimkumar Mandal of Bihar. He lived in the same locality and worked as a labourer in a power loom.
According to the police sources, the girl was playing outside her home when the accused took the girl to his house on the pretext of offering something. He raped and strangulated her to death.
Later in the evening, when the girl did not return home, her parents began a search in the locality, but in vain. Following this, they approached the police and filed a missing complaint.
Naresh Pawar, senior police inspector, Nizampura police station, said, “We rushed to the spot and launched a door-to-door search in the locality that went on for around three to four hours. We checked dozens of houses adjacent to the girl’s residence.”
“We came across a suspicious room, which was locked from the inside, in the same locality. With the help of locals we spotted a man through the roof, who was sitting beside the body of the girl inside the room. Locals convinced him and the accused opened the door. We arrested the accused and the body was taken to a hospital,” Navnath Dhavle, deputy commissioner of police, Bhiwandi, said.
A case was registered against Mandal under charges of kidnapping, rape, murder and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was produced in a court and remanded in police custody for eight days.
The police said that the post-mortem report revealed that the girl was raped and strangulated to death.
