Govandi rape: police to scan photos in voters' list

The upcoming civic polls may give investigators a vital clue in the rape and kidnapping incident of a six-year-old girl from Govandi in the early hours of Sunday.

The upcoming civic polls may give investigators a vital clue in the rape and kidnapping incident of a six-year-old girl from Govandi in the early hours of Sunday.

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"Since we suspect that the accused is from the Baiganwadi locality, we have asked the BMC for the voters' list of three wards that cover Baiganwadi and adjacent localities," said RS Agarwal, senior inspector, Shivaji Nagar police station.

"We will ask the victim's grandmother, who has seen the accused, to check whether his photo is featured on the list," said Agarwal.

While there is a possibility of the accused not being a registered voter, the Shivaji Nagar police believe they have nothing to lose. They have also made a sketch of the accused based on the description given by the grandmother.

The victim is currently recuperating at the JJ hospital. "Since she has still not recovered, we cannot question her about the accused or where he took her on Sunday night", said Agarwal.

The police also interrogated history-sheeters from the area.

The incident took place on Monday night, when the victim had gone with her maternal grandmother to fill water at a nearby tap.

The victim's grandmother went to keep a bucket at her house and returned within 10 minutes, by which time the six-year-old girl had gone missing.

The accused had casually struck a conversation with the victim's grandmother, earlier, and claimed that he lived in the same locality.