Gzb: Guardian held for killing 4-yr-old who threatened to disclose sexual abuse
Investigators said the girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the suspect, who then killed her when she threatened to inform his wife about the assault
Two days after a four-year-old girl was found murdered nearby her home in Ghaziabad, her local guardian, with whom she was living since her father’s death last year, was arrested for the child’s murder on Tuesday. Investigators said the girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the suspect, who then killed her when she threatened to inform his wife about the assault.
According to police officers, the girl’s father died on January 28 last year, and her mother, who is said to be mentally ill, is missing for the past seven months. After her father died, the suspect, who owns a mobile phone store, took the child home and acted as her local guardian.
The girl went missing on March 11, but the family reported the matter to the police only on the morning of March 12. Soon, her body was discovered a few kilometres away from her house and the police formed seven teams to solve the case. The girl’s autopsy report suggested that she was being sexually assaulted, but going by her injuries, the doctors concluded that the assault did not happen just prior to her death.
“Doctors suggested that there was no fresh sexual assault on the day she was killed as her injuries were old. This indicated that the girl was being sexually assaulted over the past few days,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (trans-Hindon).
On the afternoon of March 11, the suspect tried to sexually assault the girl, but she resisted his attempt, said officers associated with the case. The girl told him that she will tell her “mother (the suspect’s wife)” about the sexual assault, said investigators.
“The suspect hit her, and she fell and began bleeding from her nose. The suspect then smothered her. After hiding the corpse in the room, he confided in one of his friends about the murder, but not about the sexual assault. The friend volunteered to help him dispose of the body. Late at night, the duo dumped the body at a nearby isolated spot. The following day, the suspect made up a tale about the girl going missing. He also approached us and registered a missing person complaint,” said DCP Yadav.
The suspect told investigators that the girl was playing with his two children around 3pm after school, when she went missing. Investigators said after questioning the two children, they learned that the claim was untrue.
“Our teams deployed electronic surveillance and checked CCTV footage. We also determined through their mobile phone location that around the time of the murder, the suspect and his friend were present at the spot where we found the girl’s body. Since we found blood on the girl’s nose, we inspected her house and forensics revealed the presence of blood on the floor, although it had been wiped clean,” said Yadav.
The police interrogated at least 100 people in connection with the case after which they arrested the suspect. He has been booked for rape and murder under the Indian Penal Code as well as provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
His accomplice, who helped him dispose of the body, was also arrested on Tuesday for destruction of evidence, said officers.
