Man who ‘raped, killed’ lover’s daughter arrested

He accused confessed to have raped and killed the toddler when her mother had gone out

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a swift action, the Kamakshipalya police on Wednesday nabbed a 26-year-old man who had gone absconding after allegedly raping and murdering a three-year-old girl in the city.

Sources from the police told News Trail that the accused was known to the girl and her mother. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru South Division, P Krishnakanth said that the accused has been booked under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. And since a case under Pocso has been registered, the police did not name the accused.

"The crime took place on Monday afternoon and the suspect was taken into custody around 7 pm on Tuesday," the senior police officer said. He also said that the accused initially denied sexually abusing the girl, but a medical examination report proved his statement wrong. Police revealed that the girl lived with her mother, a garment factory worker, in Kaveripura in the city.

The woman is separated from her husband and was recently involved in a relationship with the accused due to which he would often visit her house. On Monday when the accused visited the woman's house, she asked him to take care of her daughter while she had to go out for some work.

When she returned, she found her daughter unconscious and the accused man told her that he had hit her on the head as she was making a fuss and not listening to him. The woman, along with the accused person, rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead and also that the toddler was raped.

Following this, the accused person fled from the hospital and the woman registered a case against him with the jurisdictional police. Some of the residents claimed that the accused was a drug-addict and was under the influence of marijuana when he committed the crime.

Sources from police added that during interrogation, the accused confessed to have raped and killed the toddler when her mother had gone out. He also said that as she was crying, he killed the girl by hitting her on the head with a blunt weapon. Police found injury marks on the girl's head.

The body was shifted to Victoria Hospital for post-mortem. However, a confession or disclosure statement of any person made before a police officer is not admissible as evidence before a court unless it is backed by other evidence. Only a confession before a judge is admissible as evidence against an accused.