A 36-year-old butcher was arrested on Monday, Aug. 22, for allegedly kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl, whose body was found in a forest in Delhi, India's capital territory.
Rizwan alias Badshah, reportedly a drug addict, is a native of Bihar, a state in East India bordering Nepal, and had migrated to Delhi 20 years ago in search of work.
According to local media reports, Rizwan worked as a butcher at the meat market in the Tirkman Gate area of the central Indian city.
It was reported that Rizwan was a frequent visitor to the Yamuna Khadar forest area, where he spend his time tripping on weed.
The spot is not too far away from where a farmer lived with his wife and four children.
On the intervening night of Aug. 4-5, the farmer and his family had been sleeping at their home when he woke up at around 4 a.m. to find one of his daughter missing.
The devastated father said he approached the police after his helpless efforts to find his daughter went in vain.
A missing case was registered and the police were searching for the 8-year-old girl, when on Aug. 18, investigators received a report of a child's lifeless body found in the nearby forest area.
Responding officers found and identifed the missing girl's body that had multiple stab wounds, reports said.
An autopsy was conducted and the results shockingly revealed that the child was raped before she was murdered.
Based on the autopsy results, the police registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said a team of 50 police personnel was constituted to probe the case and a big hunt was launched to locate and identify the perpetrator.
The investigators examined all the nearby CCTV cameras and spoke to more than 200 people living in the area to gain leads about the suspect.
"A secret information was received that one Rizwan alias Badshah who is a butcher by profession used to visit the jhuggi (a slum dwelling typically made of mud and corrugated) frequently and had befriended the victim with toffees and other things," she said.
"It was revealed that on the day of the incident, Rizwan had come to Yamuna Khadar… Rizwan was searched and overpowered. On sustained interrogation, he confessed to the crime," the officer added.
Rizwan revealed that during the course of his visits to Yamuna Khadar area, he had developed intimacy with the victim's mother and had befriended the minor girl, the DCP said
He also claimed that he decided to eliminate the victim because she had seen him in an intimate situation with her mother.
On the day of the tragic incident, Rizwan went to the forest area and smoked weed. He waited there until nightfall and for all members of the victim's family to fall asleep, the DCP said.
According to police, Rizwan entered the family's hut, kidnapped the minor girl and took her to an isolated location in the adjoining forest area and raped her.
"Thereafter, he slit her throat and mutilated her face," said Chauhan.
The knife used in the commission of murder has been recovered, police said. The suspect remains in judicial custody as the investigation proceeds.
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