Greater Noida: Neighbour strangled 2-year-old, arrested

The accused, identified as Raghavendra Singh alias Raghav, was arrested while he was trying to flee the city, a day after the minor’s body was recovered from a backpack kept at his rented house in Devla village

A 33-year-old neighbour of a couple was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping their two-year-old daughter for ransom and strangulating her to death at a village in Greater Noida, police officers said.

Police with the accused on Tuesday. (HT PHOTO)

The accused, identified as Raghavendra Singh alias Raghav, was arrested while he was trying to flee the city, a day after the minor’s body was recovered from a backpack kept at his rented house in Devla village, the Gautam Budh Nagar police said. He was booked for murder, they added.

The minor, identified as Mansi Kumar, was missing since April 7. Two days later, on April 9, her body was found stuffed in a backpack at her neighbour’s home, said officials.

According to the police, Singh initially planned to release her after receiving ransom, but later killed the minor on fear of being caught.

Investigation found that Singh was on friendly terms with the minor’s father, Shiv Kumar. Kumar, 32, a daily wage worker, lives with his wife Manju, 30, and a seven-month-old child in a rented accommodation in the village.

Raghavendra, a native of Ballia district, also lived in a family of four — his wife and two children, aged three and nine. His wife and children had been away for about 20 days when he committed the crime.

“Both the suspect and the complainant, Shiv, were on good terms with each other and their kids used to play together. Raghu had recently got to know that Shiv was going to build a house at his home town and had saved a large sum of money for the same. He planned to kidnap Shiv’s daughter and ask for a ransom of ₹2 lakh from her father,” said Rajeev Dixit, additional deputy commissioner of police, central Noida.

Mansi was kidnapped at around 2.30pm on April 7. According to her relatives, Shiv Kumar was at work at the time, while Mansi’s mother had gone to buy grocery, and had left the children behind.

After looking for the child for over six hours, her father lodged a missing complaint with Surajpur police station at around 11pm the same day.

“Raghu took her to his one-room house and put her in a big container after stuffing a piece of cloth in her mouth, but left the lid open. When her family and locals started to look for her, to avoid suspicion, he joined them. Later, at around 6.30pm, he went back to his house to check upon the girl and found that she had managed to climb out of the box, and the cloth’s knot had also loosened. Fearing that people would hear her cries, he strangulated her before stuffing her body in the bag,” said Dixit.

The suspect also continued to come to the police station to enquire about the progress of the investigation to avoid suspicion, police said, adding that Raghavendra does not have a criminal history.

“Raghavendra then planned to hide the backpack but failed to find the opportunity. Therefore, decided to flee on Sunday,added the officer.

However, he was arrested from a prepaid taxi booth outside the Ghaziabad railway station at around 4am on Tuesday, said SHO Awadhesh Pratap Singh.

Police also recovered the piece of cloth used to strangulate the girl.

“Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code were added to the FIR. The suspect was produced before a magistrate and sent to judicial custody,” said Singh.