Cops arrest truck driver for assaulting, killing minor in Mulund

The police have arrested a truck driver in connection with the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl at Mulund in Mumbai on Saturday night

A 26-year-old truck driver was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old girl in Mulund on Saturday night.

According to the police, the accused had parked his container on a highway in Mulund and was awaiting Octroi procedures when he saw the girl alone. He pulled the minor aside and after sexually assaulting her, he gagged her. He later abandoned her between two containers parked on the busy highway. “We have arrested the truck driver who has been remanded to police custody for seven days,” said a high-ranking officer.

Police said the girl at times resorted to begging and may have tried to approach the truck drivers. The accused saw her alone following which he sexually assaulted and killed her, which the post mortem report confirmed. The police checked the CCTV footage and also questioned several truck drivers following which the accused was caught.

The girl, who was found murdered on Saturday night, was sent out by her father to purchase ‘mawa’ at around 8 pm. When the girl did not return for a long time, the family members started searching her. They then found her body dumped beneath a container on the highway at around 10.45 pm. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

The girl’s parents, who are rag pickers, had recently moved to Mulund and put up a shanty on the footpath along the highway. They regularly keep changing their homes to look for better ways to make money. The accused has been booked under relevant sections of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.