Man held for rape and murder of a 5 year old girl: Victim’s father kills himself

A 30-year-old man has been arrested for the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl in Dadra and Nagar Haveli’s Naroli village, Silvassa police said Saturday. Unable to bear the trauma of the child’s death, her father killed himself by consuming some poisonous substance, police added.

The child, who was playing outside her house, was reported missing Friday afternoon.

On checking closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of the area, Silvassa police found the child had not exited the residential apartment. Suspecting that the child might still be on the building premises, they searched the 40-odd flats in the apartment.

After a three-hour search, a policeman found the girl’s body stuffed inside a plastic sack that had been thrown in the open to sky dunk area of the building. The child’s throat, police said, had been slit by some sharp weapons.

According to police, a windowpane in a flat adjacent to the child’s house was found broken following which the 30-year-old man was nabbed. The accused initially gave contradictory answers but later said he had found the girl playing outside on the ground floor of the apartment and took her inside and committed the crime, police said.

Silvassa police inspector Chhaya Tandel said, “We have arrested the accused who was residing in the flat next to that of the child’s family since last year. He was sharing it with another man and both of them are employed at a factory at Silvassa GIDC.” The girl’s father, Tandel said, was shocked by the incident and consumed poison Friday night. He was rushed to a hospital but succumbed Saturday , he added.