CHENNAI: In an incident that sent shockwaves across the city on Saturday, a 29-year-old man allegedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl and threw her from the terrace of a three-storey building at Maduravoyal in the wee hours. The class V girl succumbed to her injuries. The suspect, P Suresh, a construction labourer, was a native of Tindivanam. Six months ago, he had moved to the building where the victim also stayed.
The building had three flats and a common toilet on each floor. Around 2 am on Saturday, the girl went to the toilet and did not return for a long time. After searching for her in vain, her parents alerted the police control room.
The neighbours, including the suspect, joined search efforts after the police arrived. “We found the child unconscious and bleeding from her nose behind the building. She was rushed to a private hospital in Ayanambakkam, but the doctors there declared her brought dead,” said a police officer.
The doctors at Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital, where the victim’s body was sent for autopsy exam, informed police that the girl was molested.The police soon held inquires and detained Suresh upon suspicion. “He has confessed to us that he took the girl to the terrace after she came out of the toilet and tried to molest her. He gagged the girl with her own clothes. Since she became unconscious and had difficulty breathing, Suresh threw her from the terrace and fled. He was drunk during the whole incident,” the officer claimed.Suresh was booked under the POCSO Act and remanded in judicial custody.