A 37-year-old man was arrested after a brief exchange of fire with police for allegedly murdering and attempting to sexually assault a three-year-old girl, who had gone missing from Kapashera area of southwest Delhi, an officer said on Thursday.
The accused has been identified as Chandan Kumar, a native of Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, and has allegedly confessed to the crime during preliminary interrogation, police said.
The three-year-old child went missing on the evening of July 10, following which an FIR was registered at Kapashera police station, and an investigation was launched.
During the intervening night of July 14 and 15, police recovered the body of the child from the Kapashera drain.
A crime team inspected the spot, and the postmortem report confirmed that the child had been murdered before her body was dumped in the drain, police said.
The accused, after kidnapping the child, attempted to sexually assault her, and when she raised alarm, the accused strangled her to death, police said.
During the investigation, police analysed CCTV footage and identified the accused, who lived in the same building as the victim’s family, as a suspect after finding his movements suspicious.
The accused allegedly disclosed during interrogation that he had taken the child to a secluded place with the intention of sexually assaulting her.
However, when the girl raised an alarm, he allegedly strangled her to death and dumped the body in the drain in a bid to destroy evidence, police said.
Police said a raid was conducted at his hideout in Kapashera on Thursday. When the team attempted to apprehend him, he allegedly opened fire. In retaliatory firing carried out by police, the accused sustained a bullet injury in his left leg and was overpowered, they said.
A country-made pistol and one live cartridge were recovered from his possession.
The accused, a tailor by profession, is married, and his wife and five-year-old son live in his native village in Ballia, police said.
Further investigation is underway, they added.
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