Delhi horror: Distant relative kidnaps and kills 6-year-old girl, held

NEW DELHI: A six-year-old girl, reported missing from southeast Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by her 23-year-old neighbour and distant relative, police said on Monday.

Police are awaiting the postmortem report to know if the child was sexually assaulted.


The alleged accused, a labourer from Jharkhand, was arrested after CCTV footage showed the child in his company hours before she disappeared.

According to police, the girl was last seen around 3pm on Feb 19. Her father approached police later that night to report that she was missing. A case under Section 137(2) (kidnapping) of BNS was registered on Feb 20 at Sunlight Colony police station, and search teams were immediately deployed.

Police scanned the footage of CCTV cameras in and around the locality, which provided a lead. The footage showed the child walking with the man, who is related to the family as the minor girl's brother-in-law. Investigators said he even accompanied the girl's father to the police station to file the complaint and was allegedly attempting to mislead the probe.

Following the CCTV trail, he was detained for questioning. "After sustained interrogation, he confessed when confronted with the footage. He told the police team that he took the child to an isolated stretch near IP Park, behind Shanti Stupa, where he struck her on the head with a brick. He then threw her body into a nearby well to conceal the crime," a senior police officer said.

Based on his disclosure, a rescue team was called in to retrieve the body from the well. Police said the girl did have a head injury. "While the motive remains unclear, the possibility of sexual assault cannot be ruled out. Section 103 (murder) of BNS was added to the FIR," the senior officer added.