NEW DELHI: A 34-year-old neighbor was arrested by the Delhi Police for sexually assaulting, kidnapping, and killing a 3-year-old girl, then dumping her body in a marshy drain in Southwest Delhi’s Kapashera area.
The arrested accused was identified as Anil (34), a resident of Gali no. 9, Kapashera, New Delhi. According to the Police, on the evening of Wednesday, a distressing PCR call was received by the Delhi Police at 8:51 pm.
The caller was identified as the mother of the victim, who reported that her three-year-old daughter, who was playing in front of their home in Kapashera, had been kidnapped by a neighbour. The child was last seen wearing a Shiva ji t-shirt and shorts.
Police promptly arrived at the scene and initiated a search operation. The mother, residing in a rented accommodation for the past five years and the victim was identified as three-year-old daughter. She alleged that Anil, a neighbor, had abducted the child around 6 pm.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered, under Section 363 of the IPC at the Kapashera Police Station. The police began an extensive search operation for the girl.
CCTV footage from the vicinity revealed that at approximately 7:05 pm, Anil was seen walking towards Ganda Nala with the girl. Around 7:25 pm, he was captured returning alone. Anil was then seen fleeing Delhi towards Sohna through further technical investigation.
The police tracked his movements and set off in his direction with his photograph. Multiple buses and vehicles were checked along the route.
The suspect Anil was finally apprehended at 11:55 pm inside a bus heading towards Kanpur. Due to the gravity of the crime, Anil was interrogated immediately on the way back to Kapashera.
Initially, he denied any involvement in the kidnapping. However, under sustained questioning, he confessed to killing the girl after sexually assaulting her and dumping her body in a marshy drain at the border of Gurugram and Kapashera.
Anil led the police team to the drain, where a search operation commenced in the dark.
After over an hour of searching through dense bushes and heaps of garbage, the girl’s body was recovered from the marshy area.
During this operation, Anil attempted to escape by grabbing a police officer’s loaded service revolver and firing at the police team. In the ensuing confrontation, the police fired back in self-defense, injuring Anil. He was quickly taken to a hospital for treatment.
Crime scene and forensic teams were summoned to the site where the girl’s body was recovered. The body was examined by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and the crime team.
Anil was arrested and is now in judicial custody. A medical board has conducted the post-mortem of the young victim.