24-year-old arrested for kidnapping and sexually assaulting three-year-old in Greater Noida

A video also circulated on social media of hundreds of villagers surrounding the Rabupura police station demanding strict action in the case

A day after a three-year-old girl was raped and left injured in the fields near Rabupura village in Greater Noida, the police on Friday arrested a 24-year-old man on charges of kidnapping and raping the child, senior officers investigating the case said, adding that the suspect lives next door to the child.

Police said they identified the rape suspect after scanning the footage from multiple CCTV cameras and recording villagers and locals’ statements. (Representative image)

The Greater Noida police said they identified the rape suspect after scanning the footage from multiple CCTV cameras and recording the statements of locals and villagers. The suspect, police said, lured away the child from outside her house after offering a snack. His name has been withheld to protect the identity of the survivor, as he is her neighbour, police said.

Raghvendra Singh, station house officer, Rabupura, said, “On Thursday around 4.30pm, the child was playing outside her home, when her 24-year-old neighbour walked up to her and lured her away after offering her a snack.”

“He took her to the flower fields and sexually assaulted her. After committing the crime, he left the girl injured and bleeding at the spot and fled,” said SHO Singh, adding that around 6pm, a villager heard the girl crying in the flower fields and came to her rescue.

The SHO said, “On a complaint given by the survivor’s family members, a rape case under Sections 376 (rape), and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on Thursday night.”

“After scanning footage from a series of CCTV cameras, recording statements of locals, and using manual intelligence, we zeroed in on the suspect by late Thursday and arrested him from Rabupura locality,” said Singh.

Early Friday morning, when the police team was taking him to the place where he dumped the survivor’s clothes, he allegedly snatched the pistol of a police officer and fired at the police team. In the retaliatory fire, the suspect was shot in the leg and arrested, said the SHO.

On Friday, a video also circulated on social media of hundreds of villagers surrounding the Rabupura police station demanding strict action in the case. Police officers counselled the angry villagers and assured them of proper action. Further investigations are underway in the case, said police.