5-year-old girl from Bihar sexually assaulted and killed in Kerala, suspect held: police

The accused, identified as Asfak Alam, a labourer, confessed to the crime, police said.

Ernakulam Rural Superintendent of Police Vivek Kumar said the girl was murdered after being sexually assaulted. “We are looking into whether more persons are involved in the crime. One more person is in police custody. We are in touch with the Bihar Police to ascertain whether the arrested Alam has criminal history,” the SP said.

The parents of the girl found that she was missing on Friday when they came back to their rented house after work. According to police, the accused also lived on the premises of the house where the girl’s family was staying. “Her parents came to know that she was missing when they returned after work. At 7 pm, we got a complaint at the local police station and around 8 pm, we registered the FIR,” SP Kumar said.

“Examination of CCTV footage showed a person walking along with the missing girl and later boarding a bus. Within hours, police nabbed Alam, but the girl was missing. He tried to mislead the police by saying that he had handed over the girl to another person. Besides, we could not get any details from him at the time as he was in an inebriated condition. On Saturday, he confessed to the crime,” Kumar said.

Workers at a market had also alerted police about a man who was seen with a girl in the area. A headload worker at the market said Alam, who told him that the girl was his daughter, was taking her towards a deserted area behind the market. Later, some others were also seen going in that direction, the headload worker told reporters.

The crime has caused outrage in Kerala. Kerala Police wrote on its Facebook page: “Makale mappu (Daughter, forgive us).”

Opposition Leader V D Satheesan of the Congress accused the police of serious lapses.

“Kerala has become unsafe for even children. Police have no time to look into crime against women and children. They (police) are after microphones that develop a technical glitch while the chief minister is speaking,” he said, referring to a recent case regarding a malfunctioning microphone that caused an outcry, prompting police to close the case a day after it was registered.

“When CM (Pinarayi) Vijayan is visiting a district, a thousand policemen are deployed. But when a five-year-old is abducted, police did not act promptly,” Satheesan added.