Ghaziabad: Relative molests and murder minor girl before dumping body on terrace; arrested

A 7-year-old girl was allegedly molested and murdered by her 27-year-old maternal uncle in Ghaziabad, India. The suspect has been arrested.

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly molested and murdered by her 27-year-old maternal uncle in extended family, who then threw her body from his terrace on Friday in Ghaziabad, police said on Saturday, adding that the suspect was arrested.

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Police said the incident took place on Friday night, and the body of the minor was recovered around 2 am on Saturday.

The girl, who was a resident of Sahibabad, had come to visit her maternal grandparents in Kaila Bhatta with her mother. She has been staying in Kaila Bhatta for the past 15 days, police said, adding the suspect’s house is adjacent to the grandparents’.

According to another maternal uncle of the girl, she went missing around 10.30 pm on Friday and despite an extensive search, she couldn’t be located.

“We searched the whole house and nearby areas, but could not find her. Some children in the locality mentioned that she had been called by a relative living in the adjacent house. When we questioned him, he tried to evade,” the uncle said.

He added that the suspect and their house had a common terrace on the second floor.

“Around 2 am, we again started searching the house again during which we discovered her in an unconscious state on the terrace of the second floor. We rushed her to a nearby private hospital, where the doctors declared her dead on arrival,” he said, adding that police were alerted immediately.

Police said that an investigation was launched during which they picked up five suspects for questioning based on the preliminary information.

“One of the five was a maternal uncle of the girl, who broke down and confessed that he abused the child and when she resisted and threatened to reveal the ordeal to her family, he strangulated her. After coming to know about the search, he threw the girl from his house terrace to the one at her maternal grandparents’ house from where she was discovered by her family” said Nipun Agarwal, DCP (city).

Police said that the suspect is a married man with children but his wife does not stay with him due to some marital discord.

Based on the complaint made by the girl’s father, an FIR was registered against the suspect under sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code and levied provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) in an FIR lodged at Kotwali police station.

The DCP added that during the investigation, the girl’s slippers were discovered in the suspect’s room, along with a towel that may contain biological evidence. “The girl’s throat also had a deep injury mark which seems to be inflicted by nails. The suspect claimed to have lured the girl to his room under the pretext of giving her some dry fruits,” the DCP said.

While speaking to HT, ACP (City 1) Nimish Patil on Saturday said that the autopsy revealed that she died of throttling (choking of throat with hands). “After throttling the girl, the suspect dumped girl’s body to the adjacent terrace as he feared that he may land up in trouble if the body is discovered from his room,” ACP added.