Three held for raping, murdering 4-yr-old girl in Thane
THANE: In a shocking incident, a four-year-old girl was raped, brutally killed and buried in a nullah (drain) in Bhayander, police said. Three persons were on Friday arrested for the crime and were remanded in police custody by a local court. A fourth accused is still absconding.
On January 9, her parents had filed a complaint with Navghar police that the child was kidnapped by some unknown persons from near their house while she was playing, Superintendent of Police (SP) (rural) Mahesh Patil told reporters on Saturday.
"On January 12 evening, the body of the missing girl was found buried in a nullah near Azad Nagar slum in Bhayander township of Thane district. The police got to know that one of the persons acquainted with the family had committed the crime," he said.
The 24-year-old prime accused, known to the victim's family admitted that he had raped and killed her, police said. Police on Sunday said that after committing the offence and burying the child's body in the pit dug by them, the accused had dinner at a hotel in the locality.
The accused allegedly took the victim to Azad Nagar, raped her and then gagged her to death. The postmortem report showed wound marks on the child's head, police said.
A cat had nibbled the body and the child's arm was spotted in the pit by some locals who informed the police. The body was exhumed on January 12.
Three of the four accused were arrested on Friday and produced today before a local court which remanded them in police custody till January 24, said Navghar's Senior Police Inspector Srikant Padule.
A manhunt has been launched to nab the fourth accused, who is suspected to have fled Maharashtra, police said. They added that there was no dispute between the accused and the victim's family.
Padule also said the main accused developed closeness with the family in the last few months to gain their confidence. Police are in the process of recording statements of the accused and witnesses, he added.
Initially, the case was registered under IPC section 363 (kidnapping), but now the accused have been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 376(D) (gangrape) and also under sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, they said.