In an agonizing incident that has left Kerala society in shock, a minor girl was brutally raped and strangulated to death after she was abducted by a migrant worker from her house, police said on Saturday.
A police official quoting an autopsy report said the 5-year-old child was raped and strangulated to death. Her body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market in the nearby Aluva today. The girl went missing on Friday and the man was arrested later in the day.
“We received the complaint at 07:10 p.m. and an FIR was registered before 8 p.m. on Friday. Our team checked the CCTV Visuals and found that the child was with the labourer. We apprehended him at 9:30 p.m. itself. However, he was in an inebriated state and the child was not with him,” Ernakulam Rural SP, Vivek Kumar told the media.
Kumar told PTI that based on the medical examination, the girl was raped and strangulated to death.
The child of a migrant couple from Bihar, the girl went missing from her house at the garage junction near here on Friday evening.
The girl’s body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market. She was brutally assaulted, and sexually abused and the accused used garbage and sacks to cover the body, police said.
Based on the CCTV footage, cops apprehended the Bihar-born worker who was staying on the first floor of the building where the child’s family was staying. On Friday night, police claimed it was difficult to question and get information from the accused, who was inebriated.
“He confessed to the crime this morning.” However, he also attempted to mislead the investigative team,” Srinivas A, DIG of Kochi Range, said reporters. Earlier in the day, residents reported seeing the toddler with the migrant worker in the market area.
Police raced to the scene, investigated the area alongside residents, and found the girl’s body.
According to them, the neighbourhood was frequented by anti-social characters, and drinking and drug usage was prevalent.
According to a local trade union worker, he spotted the migrant worker with the child on Friday and “asked him who the girl was.” He claimed it was his child and stated that he was heading behind the market area to consume booze. However, I noticed the CCTV images of the missing youngster and the worker on social media this morning and notified the police,” the union worker added.
Meanwhile, Kerala police issued an apology to the victim’s family on all of its social media accounts today, stating that their efforts to reunite the kid with her parents were futile.
The opposition Congress slammed the state police and accused them of failing to locate the youngster. VD is the Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition.
According to the LoP, the police neglected to intervene even after it was obvious that the accused had taken the child. “The situation has deteriorated to the point where even children are no longer safe.” “The police claim that excessive drug and alcohol use contributed to this crime,” Satheesan stated.
He said that the administration was unable to regulate the use of alcohol and drugs in society and asked the Left government to adopt tough measures. “Even after learning that a child had been abducted, the police were not cautious enough,” Satheesan claimed.
KPCC leader K Sudhakaran urged the government to compensate the raped child’s family appropriately. Meanwhile, Shaik Darvesh Saheb, the state police chief, dismissed the claims and stated that there were no errors on the part of the investigators.
SP in rural areas Kumar had earlier told the media that the culprit was apprehended within an hour of the police being alerted about the rape atrocity. Ministers including V Sivankutty, Veena George, and P Rajeeve denounced the heinous rape act and expressed profound sadness.
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