5-yr-old Sahibabad girl raped before her murder, say cops

GHAZIABAD: At least six teams of the Ghaziabad police are searching for the suspect responsible for the abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Sahibabad, police said on Saturday.

The girl went missing from outside her house on Thursday afternoon and her body was recovered around Friday noon from a location near her house under the jurisdiction of the Sahibabad police station. Police added that the post-mortem findings have confirmed rape and the cause of death due to strangulation.

“The autopsy report received late on Friday night confirmed the presence of injuries in her private parts. The autopsy report also indicates strangulation. When we discovered the body, the neck of the victim had a piece of cloth tied to it. It suggests that she was strangled. The time of death is suggested to be around 18 hours before the autopsy,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2).

Police officers aware of the matter said that at least 30 people from the locality were rounded up for questioning while extensive electronic surveillance and scanning of CCTV footage is also being taken up to identify the suspect. “We have come across an unidentified man who is seen in one of the CCTV footage and is not a resident of the locality,” he said.

The father of the girl said that the unidentified man seen in one of the CCTV footage is an outsider and was stalking a young woman who later told him about the matter. The five-year-old girl went to play outside around 2.30 pm on Thursday and went missing. A day later, her body was found without clothes on the lower portion, police added.

“She returned from school and went out to play. I got her admitted to Class 1 this academic session,” the father said. The family moved to Ghaziabad about five years ago from Kannauj, police added.