A 36-year-old butcher was arrested on Monday for allegedly kidnapping and raping an eight-year-old girl and later killing her in the forest area of Yamuna Khadar in Central Delhi, police said.
The man slit the girl's throat and mutilated her face, they said.
Rizwan alias Badshah was born in Bihar and had come to Delhi 20 years ago for work. He worked as a butcher in the Turkman Gate area, police said.
Reportedly a drug addict, Rizwan used to go to Yamuna Khadar to smoke weed, they said.
In the intervening night of August 4-5, a resident of Daryaganj reported that he was sleeping at his home with his wife and four children, when he woke up around 4 am, he found one of his daughters was missing from home.
After searching for her in the neighbourhood and not finding her, he filed a complaint and a case of kidnapping under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code was registered, according to police.
On August 18, the body of the missing girl was found in the Yamuna Khadar area with sharp injuries.
On the basis of the post-mortem report, section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code and Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was added to the FIR, said a senior police officer.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said that a team of 50 police personnel was constituted to probe the case and a big hunt was launched to find the culprit.
All the nearby CCTV cameras were checked but no clue was found. About 200 persons living in and around Yamuna Khadar area were interrogated to get leads about the culprit, she said.
"A secret information was received that one Rizwan alias Badshah who is a butcher by profession used to visit the jhuggi frequently and had befriended the victim with toffees and other things.
"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," she said.
The DCP said that 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.
He also said that the victim had seen him in an intimate situation with her mother and hence, he decided to eliminate her.
Rizwan said that on the day of the incident, he went to the victim's neighbourhood and smoked weed. He waited till night and for all members of the victim's family to fall asleep, the DCP said.
According to police, he said that when he entered the family's hut, he saw the young girl sleeping inside with her family.
He kidnapped the minor girl and took her to a secluded place in the adjoining forest area of Yamuna Khadar and raped her.
"Thereafter, he slit her throat and mutilated her face," said Chauhan.
The knife used in the commission of crime has been recovered, police said.
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