A nine-year-old girl was found dead in the drainage chamber of a public toilet in Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai on Saturday, two days after she went missing. She was allegedly sexually assaulted and then strangled to death by a man who had earlier served a jail sentence for rape, Mumbai Mirror reported.
The child’s body was found just 200 metres from her home, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Paramjit Singh Dahiya said. A police team arrested the accused, 35-year-old Vadivelu Chintambi Devendra, from his home, he said. Devendra had been released from jail last year after he finished his sentence for raping a minor girl in 2013.
The child returned home from school around 6 pm on April 4 and went out to buy a packet of tea. When she did not return by 7.30 pm, her parents approached the Juhu Police.
After his arrest, Devendra confessed to kidnapping the child, taking her to his house and sexually assaulting her. The accused took the police to the spot in the public toilet where he had dumped her body.
“We have booked him for murder, causing disappearance of evidence and rape, and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,” Additional Commissioner of Police (western) Manoj Kumar Sharma said.
The child’s uncle said that Devendra was a local criminal who stole electricity and water and sold them to the residents of the slum where she lived. He alleged that Devendra had even joined the search party for the child on April 4.
Local residents protested outside the Juhu police station after accused was arrested. They demanded capital punishment for the accused. A local court has sent Devendra to police custody till April 15. The child’s body has been sent to Cooper Hospital for autopsy.
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