Pune rape-murder case: Anger erupts as villagers demand for speedy justice for 3-year-old rape victim

Pune: The Pune rural police on Sunday continued to maintain a strict vigil at Nasrapur village, 40 km from Pune off the highway to Satara, while all local shops and trade establishments remained closed after the alleged rape and murder of a three-year-old girl.

The villagers are demanding speedy justice. They told TOI: "The arrested suspect, Bhimrao Kamble, used to stay in the village wherever he found some place. He would work in farms. At the time of the incident, he was engaged at the construction site of a temple near the house of the victim's grandmother."

Villager Mauli Chavan told TOI: "Kamble took the girl to the cowshed under the pretext of showing her a calf. There was a power failure at that time and CCTV cameras were not functioning, as a result. Only one house near the house of the victim's grandmother has power backup."

All the villagers started to look for the child when her grandmother failed to find her around 3pm on Friday. "The suspect, Kamble, also joined the search a while later," Chavan said.

"We called up the police, who checked the CCTV footage of the house with the power backup. The girl was spotted in a lane with Kamble. Police personnel took the man away and returned 15 minutes later. The girl had been found motionless under dry leaves in the cowshed," the villager said.

The girl stayed with her parents in Dhayari and had gone to Nasrapur to be with her grandmother, said neighbour Ganesh Palkar. "I would meet the child every day. She was very animated and joyful," he added.

The girl's grandfather had been a priest in a prominent temple of the area and passed away four years ago. The elderly couple's only son shifted to Pune and would frequently visit his mother, Palkar said.

Ganesh Wafgaonkar, who runs a small shop near the temple, told TOI: "We came to know that Kamble had gagged the girl with a piece of cloth. He went to the market road to avoid public attention and joined the search later. He tried to fool us. We protested by blocking the highway."

Another villager, Prasanna Gayawal, said, "We demanded that his custody remain in the village. We want justice without delay. People have taken to the streets in Pune city as well as the highway for the last two days. Everyone is demanding justice for the child."

Superintendent of Pune Rural police Sandeep Singh Gill said, "We are awaiting the post mortem report to conclude how Kamble killed the girl. We have not formed an SIT, but a separate dedicated team is investigating the case. More personnel will be added, if required. We will file the chargesheet as soon as possible and strive for a fast-track court."

On Sunday, a police team took Kamble to the Sassoon hospital for medical tests. "Initially, he claimed that he had trivial disputes with the girl's family, but it is not the case," Gill added.