Ghaziabad: At least six teams of the Ghaziabad police are searching for the suspect responsible for the abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Sahibabad, police said on Saturday.
Police added that the autopsy findings have confirmed rape and the cause of death due to strangulation. The girl went missing from outside her house around 2.30pm on Thursday and her body was recovered around Friday noon from a location near to her house under the jurisdiction of the Sahibabad police station.
Police said that the autopsy report has indicated rape. The autopsy was conducted on Friday evening in Ghaziabad. Police initially registered a case of abduction when the girl went missing but later added murder and rape charges, besides adding provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
“The autopsy report received late on Friday night confirmed the presence of injuries in her private parts. The autopsy report also indicates strangulation. When we discovered the body, the neck of the victim had a piece of cloth tied to it. It suggests that she was strangled. The time of death is suggested to be around 18 hours before the autopsy,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2).
Sources in the police said that at least 30 persons from the locality were rounded up for questioning while extensive electronic surveillance and scanning of CCTV footage is also being taken up to identify the suspect.
“We have come across an unidentified man who is seen in one of the CCTV footage and is not a resident of the locality,” SP Singh said.
The father of the girl said that the unidentified man seen in one of the CCTV footage is an outsider and was stalking a young woman who later told about the matter.
“She said that the man was following her and he is not from our locality. I want the police to investigate every possible angle to the case and even a search should be conducted locally to find out if my daughter was kept captive first and murdered later. The brutality with her suggests that there was involvement of more than one person. The culprits should be arrested and their motive should be revealed,” the father added.
The girl went to play outside her house around 2.30pm on Thursday and went missing thereafter. A day later, her body was discovered without clothes on the lower portion, police added.
“She had arrived from school around 2pm and went out to play. I got her admitted to Class 1 this academic session,” the father said.
The family moved to Ghaziabad about five years ago from Kannauj district, police added.
