KOCHI: Nearly 21 hours after a five-year-old girl was abducted from her rented house in Choornikkara, her body was found abandoned in a marshy area behind the Aluva fish market, near the Periyar River, on Saturday afternoon. Initial postmortem findings revealed that the girl had been sexually assaulted. Police arrested Bihar native Asafak Alam, 28, who has confessed to the crime.
Ernakulam Range DIG A Sreenivas said Alam abducted the girl, the daughter of a couple from Bihar — and murdered her before abandoning the body in a waste dump near the river. The body was found covered in garbage, with three stones placed atop it. According to police, the girl was strangled to death with her T-shirt.
“There were gruesome injuries and marks of ant bites on the body,” said Sreenivas.
When taken into custody on Friday night, Alam reportedly told police that he had left the girl near her house after buying her juice. Later, he changed his version and said the girl was handed over to a man named Zakir in Aluva. However, by Saturday morning he confessed to the murder and sexual harassment.
“Alam was in our custody from 9.30 PM on Friday. He tried to mislead us many times. He was very drunk and semi-conscious. However, on Saturday, he revealed the location where he had abandoned the body,” said Sreenivas. The DIG said a special team has been formed and it is trying to ascertain whether more people were involved. Police suspect the murder was committed between 3 PM and 5.30 PM on Friday.
Police awaiting detailed postmortem report
“A CCTV camera footage revealed that Alam and the girl were together at 3.05 PM on Friday. Then we got hold of another footage recorded around 5.30 PM, in which Alam is seen alone. We have witness statements that show that Alam was involved in a fight with some persons around 6.30 PM. The girl was not with him at the time,” Sreenivas said.
Police are awaiting the detailed postmortem report to confirm the exact time of death. The police said the accused, a stone mason, has been staying in and around Aluva for several months. He took a room near the girl’s house on rent on July 22.
The victim’s father had come to Kerala eight years back. Her father, who is engaged in gypsum sealing work, said he was at a construction site in Palakkad when he received a phone call from a neighbour saying his daughter was seen with the accused around 3.10 PM on Friday.
“I immediately contacted my wife. and that is when she noticed that our daughter was missing. Around 5 PM, we had CCTV footage visual from a shop near the house that showed her holding the hands of Alam and crossing the National Highway. Then we approached the police,” he said.
“We hoped that our children would have a bright future here. The accused should be given capital punishment so that such crimes do not occur again. I have full confidence in the police,” he said Tajudheen, a headload worker at Aluva market, said he had seen Alam and the girl around 3.15 PM on Friday.
“He had come to the market with the child. When we questioned him, he said the child is his daughter and that they had come to see the market. Later, he was seen going towards the back of the market. We didn’t see him return. The body was found in a place that is a haven for anti-social activity. People go there, to drink liquor and take drugs,” Tajudheen said.