Five persons, including a PMK Councillor, were arrested here on Thursday in connection with the ghastly rape and murder of a ten-year-old girl on February 14.
Police said Daniel (name changed) (35), owner of a small power loom unit, was living with his family at Sendrayampalayam near Vazhapadi. His daughter Angel (10) was studying fifth standard in a nearby school. On the night of February 14, the girl went to bed with her parents. But, the next morning, Angel was found missing. When the parents searched for her, they found Angel hanging from a neem tree near Perumal kovil Karadu, which was a km away from Daniel’s village. Her clothes were found near a rock in the vicinity. Injury marks were also found on the body. Post-mortem report revealed that the girl could have been raped and murdered.
Five special teams were formed by the SP R Sakthivel to nab the culprits. After investigations, police on Thursday arrested five persons, all neighbours of the victim. The arrested were identified as Bhupathy (31), a PMK Councillor of Sendrayampalayam panchayat, Anand Babu alias Snake Babu (29), Anandhan (21), Prabhakaran (26) and Balu alias Balakrishnan (28).
Speaking to media persons, Sakthivel said that investigations revealed the involvement of the five in the murder case.
On February 14 night, two persons of the gang entered the girl’s home in a drunken state, kidnapped the victim to a secluded spot and then three of them raped the girl. The victim could not bear the torture and died. Then the gang threw powder on her face to show it as if it was a human sacrifice, the SP explained. Then the gang, hung the body from a tree and put a saree on the girl. While abandoning the spot, they failed to clean the tobacco products used by them. This turned out to be a major clue to crack the case.