BHOPAL: In an incident which is bound to send shivers down the spine, a five-year-old girl was kidnapped by her neighbour, allegedly raped and then strangulated to death. The accused subsequently concealed the girl’s body in a plastic container in his flat with the help of his mother and sister.
Shockingly the entire incident happened in the flat opposite the girl’s flat on the first floor of the multi-storeyed residential building in the Vajpai Nagar (Shahjahanabad) area of state capital Bhopal on Tuesday.
Police have arrested the 30-year-old man accused of the horrific crime. His mother and sister, who helped him conceal it, too have been arrested.
The multi-story building houses economically weaker section (EWS) families. The accused and the girl's father are both labourers. The girl lived with her family in a flat on the first floor while her uncle lived on the second floor.
On Tuesday, she went with her grandmother to her uncle’s house on the second floor. Later, she left her uncle’s flat for her flat on the first floor. When she was climbing down alone to her flat, the local municipal corporation staff was fumigating in the area, taking advantage of which, the accused dragged her into his flat. He then sexually assaulted the minor before strangling her to death. He subsequently concealed the body inside a plastic container inside his flat with the help of his mother and sister.
The minor’s family reported the girl’s disappearance on Tuesday itself, after which the police formed multiple teams to track her.
Two days after the girl went missing from the building, residents of other flats on the same floor complained of an intolerable stench emanating from the accused's flat.
Sensing trouble, the accused had already fled from the building, leaving his young sister and middle-aged mother behind. The mother-daughter duo in a planned manner went to the second floor flat of the girl’s uncle, pretending to be helping the family in searching for the missing minor.
A subsequent search in the accused’s flat led the police to the girl’s body, which was hidden in a plastic container and placed on the upper shelf of the bathroom.
“The accused was subsequently arrested from Bhopal railway station, while he was preparing to flee. His mother and sister too have been arrested for aiding the crime,” Bhopal police commissioner Harinarayanchari Mishra told The New Indian Express.
While the accused has confessed to sexually assaulting and killing her, the full autopsy report of the girl’s body is awaited.
“Our teams searched the neighbouring flat also, but couldn’t track the body which was hidden on the upper shelf of the bathroom. The accused wanted to take the plastic container out of the building and abandon the body at some desolate place, but failed to do so owing to heavy police presence in the residential area since the last two days,” a senior Bhopal police official said.
Initial questioning of the accused has revealed that his wife had left him some months back. In the past too, he has been accused in a case of molestation in his native Khargone district.
Meanwhile, angered over the horrific crime, local residents and local Congress MLA Arif Masood protested outside the Shahjahanabad police station, demanding that the accused be hanged.
The state's CM Dr Mohan Yadav, in a post on social media platform X, wrote, "The police have arrested all the three accused involved in the sensitive incident that happened with a five-year-old girl in Shahjahanabad area of Bhopal. People with such a corrupt mindset cannot have any place in society. In this case, about 200 police officers/employees were continuously engaged in searching for the girl for the last 48 hours."
He added, "SIT has been formed to investigate this heinous crime. The investigation team has been directed to study all the facts in depth and no culprit involved in this unfortunate incident should be spared. There is a provision of death penalty for such heinous crimes and our government will try to ensure that such criminals get the harshest punishment like death penalty. Along with this, the government is committed to provide speedy justice in all such cases in the state through fast track courts. I have deep condolences with the family of the innocent child. The whole of Madhya Pradesh is with the bereaved family in this hour of grief."