Macabre Rape-Murder of Five-Year-old Girl Rocks Bhopal
Three including two women arrested, SIT formed
Bhopal
Police recovered the decomposing corpse of a five year old girl on Thursday nearly 72 hours after she had gone missing. Police have arrested three, including two women, in connection with the case.
State government announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) late on Thursday evening after irate residents protested at the Shahjahanabad police station on the old city area of the state capital.
The girl, Preeti, lived at the EWS Multistorey buildings in the posh Idgah hills locality of the city. She was abducted, raped, killed, and dumped into a water tank by her neighbour.
The main accused, identified as Atul, is in police custody since his arrest earlier in the day. The women who were arrested with him are his mother and sister who withheld information despite being in the know of the misdemeanor.
The body was recovered after a neighbour complained of the foul smell emanating from a locked flat not far from the victim’s residence.
Incidentally, sniffer dogs had led the police team to that flat earlier, but the investigators had turned back as the house was locked.
Shahjahanabad police have come in for severe criticism over their handling of the investigation which Congress MLAs Arif Masood and Atif Aqeel have described as inadequate.
A short post mortem has been conducted on the child and findings of the forensic examination are awaited.
The girl, Preeti, was cremated at the Chhola cremation even as a large posse guards the locality where the incident took place.
The accused has a past criminal record in Khargone district of the state where police accused him of involvement of theft and molestation.
The macabre incident has rocked the city as tempers are beginning to run high due to a string of sexual abuse incidents targeting young children.
