An eight-year-old girl, was allegedly raped and murdered by her distant relative in Kali Basti in West Delhi’s Uttam Nagar area on Tuesday night.
The minor girl lived with her parents and two brothers. She was playing outside her residence in the Kali Basti slum cluster when the accused (19), identified as Pradeep, asked her to accompany him and incidentally, she was last seen with him, according to an eyewitness.
“I saw him with the girl at around 5.30 pm. I did not suspect anything suspicious since he was a relative. However, when the girl’s mother, searching for her daughter, asked me, I informed her I had seen the kid with the accused,” said the eyewitness requesting anonymity. “We approached the police station on Tuesday night and a missing complaint was registered. Since the person who last saw our girl with the accused, police took him under custody and later released him,” said Jaiveer, the girl’s uncle.
“The police assisted us throughout in searching for the child. We searched every nook and corner. We looked at the same place where her body was found on Tuesday night. It was at around 10.30 am today (Thursday) that a kid who had gone to relieve himself in the forested area near our slum saw a hand popping out of the drain and informed us then we called in the cops,” he added.
“My daughter’s body was found floating in the drain. When we took it out, we saw that the pant she was wearing was reverse,” said the girl’s mother. Eldest amongst the three children, Guddu’s (father of the victim) daughter wanted to study like her uncle’s children. Living in Kali Basti, Guddu was trying to get her admitted to a government school. “She would have started her studies from class II. We even got her admitted in tuition classes,” said a family member.
Meanwhile, recalling the accused’s behaviour, a shopkeeper told Millennium Post how he once said in an inebriated state “yaha kaand hoga (something big will happen here)”. The shopkeeper said: “The accused came to my shop asking for cigarettes and a packet of biscuit at around 6.45 pm on Tuesday. It is not the first time that he has been taken away by the cops. He has been held multiple times for engaging in street fights. He was a menace to all the residents.”
According to the police, they registered a missing complaint on the behest of the girl’s father on Tuesday night and detained the accused, a juvenile. He was later released after questioning since the cops then had “no clinching evidence” against him.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the cops said: “We are verifying the culprit’s age. He has confessed to the crime. Until his age is verified, he will be in the police custody,” said a senior Investigating Officer.
The officer said: “The girl’s body has been sent for post-mortem. Although the accused has confessed to raping and choking her, we will go by the medical reports for a clear investigation.” In protest, the locals gathered outside Uttam Nagar police station and also set ablaze the accused’s motorcycle. A case has been registered under Section 363, 302, 201 and 376 of the IPC. Pradeep has been arrested.