Ghaziabad: 10-year-old girl kidnapped from near house, gang-raped

Two men have been arrested in Ghaziabad, India, for the kidnapping and gang-rape of a 10-year-old girl. One suspect was shot in the legs during a gunfight with police.

Days after a 10-year-old girl was kidnapped and gang-raped in a moving car in Ghaziabad, the city police on Thursday arrested two men for the crime, officers aware of the case said, adding that one of the suspects was shot in the legs during a brief gunfight.

Mohammad Zakir, 58. Giving details of the case, police said on that, December 10 at around 7pm, the victim had stepped out of her house, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tronica City police station, to watch a wedding procession. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Police identified the arrested accused as Mohammad Zakir, 58, and Mohammad Nizam, 32. They said Nizam was shot twice while trying to escape police custody during a recreation of the crime.

Giving details of the case, police said on that, December 10 at around 7pm, the victim had stepped out of her house, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tronica City police station, to watch a wedding procession.

“While she was walking back to her house, she was offered a lift in an Eeco car, and the suspects promised to drop her home. They took the girl to an isolated stretch near the jungles of Nithora Road and raped in the car,” said assistant commissioner of police (Loni) Suryabali Maurya, adding that the suspects then dropped her off at the spot from where they had picked her up.

“The girl somehow reached her house but did not inform her family about the incident right away. The next day, her mother was alerted by the girl’s ill-health, and the victim revealed what had happened,” said Maurya.

Investigators said initially, the girl’s mother tried to search for the suspects on her own, before approaching the police on December 12.

Police said they got immense help from the victim, who gave them clues which proved crucial in arresting the suspects.

“The victim gave us a major clue — that all 10 fingers of the hands of one of the suspects had deformities due to some ailment. Four teams of the police fanned out and finally got clues about Vijay Nagar resident Zakir after manual intelligence. He was arrested from his house and after interrogation, the second suspect, Nizam, was arrested from his Alvi Nagar residence,” the ACP added.

The police also seized the rented car, bearing a Noida registration number, which was used in the crime.

Maurya said that, after his arrest, Nizam was taken to the site of the incident to recreate the scene, at which point he snatched the pistol of a police personnel and opened fire at police. “He suffered bullet injuries to both legs when police opened retaliatory fire,” the officer said, adding that he was nabbed soon after.

The Loni incident comes close on the heels of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old Delhi resident at Tronica City on November 30. In that case, three men gang-raped the victim in an isolated area, in presence of her woman colleague and her male friend.

Later, two more arrived at the scene of crime and wanted to gang-rape her colleague but she somehow fled and reached the police with the help of a passerby.

The police on December 4 arrested all five men involved in the crime.