TIRUPATI: Chittoor police cracked Varshitha’s rape and murder case by arresting the accused on Saturday. The accused was identified as Pathan Mohammad Rafi alias Rafi alias Giddu (25), a lorry cleaner hailing from Molakavaripalli in Kurabalakota mandal. Varshitha (5) who hailed from Guttapalem village in B Kothakota mandal, along with her parents came to attend a marriage of their relatives at KNR Convention Centre at Chenetha Nagar in Kurabalakota on the night of November 7. The girl who went missing around 9.45 pm, was found dead in the bushes behind the convention centre on November 8. Later, her parents lodged a complaint with Mudivedu police.
Giving the case details at a press conference in Chittoor, SP S Senthil Kumar said a special police team, led by Madanapalle DSP Ravi Manohara Chari, apprehended the accused after releasing his sketch and analysing the video footage of CCTV cameras at the convention centre. During interrogation, Rafi had confessed to committing the rape and murder of Varshitha.
He went to the convention centre in an inebriated condition on November 7. He observed some children playing at the venue and selected his target Varshitha, who was among them. He clicked her photographs with his smartphone on the pretext of playing with the girl, who blindly believed him. When Varshitha went to the washroom around 9.45 pm, he followed her and sexually assaulted the girl as no one was within the vicinity. The girl fainted and died. He dumped the girl’s body in the bushes behind the convention centre. Later, he returned to the convention centre as if nothing happened. He had dinner and left the venue without causing suspicion to anyone, the SP said.
Senthil Kumar said Rafi has a criminal record. While he was studying sixth class about 10 years ago, he tried to sexually assault a 5-year old girl at Basinikonda. Madanapalle Two Town police registered a case against him and he was sent to a juvenile home. He came out after spending two months in the juvenile home. He was also involved in another incident which happened about one-and-a-half years ago at Angallu village.
While working in a water plant, Rafi behaved in an indecent manner with a 12-year-old girl, who is the daughter of a woman worker in a nearby nursery. The girl’s parents and local people thrashed him and asked him not to return to work in the water plant. But no police complaint was given against Rafi, the SP said.
Senthil Kumar congratulated the special police team consisting of Madanapalle Rural CI Ashok Kumar, Piler Urban CI Sadiq Ali, Mulakalacheruvu CI Suresh Kumar, SIs Dilip Kumar, Sukumar and Sunil, for cracking the girl’s murder case within 10 days.