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Man arrested for rape, murder of a minor

Staff Reporter

He had allegedly sodomised a seven-year-old boy too

NEW DELHI: A young man who allegedly abducted a six-year-old girl, criminally assaulted her and set her body afire after strangling her at R.K. Puram in South-West Delhi on February 6 has been arrested. And the police are investigating the possibility of the accused being involved in many such cases as he is also alleged have sodomised a seven-year-old boy a few days ago.

On February 6 evening, a woman lodged a complaint with the R.K. Puram police alleging that someone had abducted her daughter. The girl was last seen playing outside her house. Her mother and area residents searched for her but in vain. On the basis of the complaint, a case of abduction was registered and investigations were taken up.

Considering the sensitivity of the matter, especially in the wake of the Nithari killings, several teams were formed under the supervision of the area Assistant Commissioner of Police to trace the girl. However, on February 7 the police were informed about the recovery of a charred body of a minor girl from a drain near R.K. Puram Sector 8. The missing girl's mother identified the body as that of her daughter.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West Delhi) Ravinder Singh Yadav said more police officers were involved to identify and track down the culprit and all possible angles were explored. As investigations indicated that the culprit was familiar with the area, the police began verifying antecedents of those living in the vicinity.

The breakthrough came on February 10 when an area resident informed the police that a couple of days ago his seven-year-old son was sodomised by a young man living in the R.K. Puram Sector 7 jhuggi cluster. The child initially did not disclose the incident to his parents as the culprit had threatened him with dire consequences. The police registered a case and picked up the suspect, Surender, who is a rag-picker.

During interrogation, Surender allegedly confessed to having not only sodomised the child, but also having murdered a girl after sexually assaulting her. Surender purportedly revealed that he had his eyes on the victim for the past few days. On the fateful day, he spotted her playing outside her house and took her along with him on the pretext of giving her sweets and new clothes. He took the girl to the drain. She tried to raise an alarm, at which he allegedly gagged her with a piece of cloth and then criminally assaulted her before killing her. Fearing that someone had spotted him with the victim, Surender allegedly set her body afire.

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