Thousands of people took to streets to protest the rape of the girl in Mandsaur
Highlights
- The rape of a seven-year-old in Mandsaur has triggered huge protests
- The two men allegedly involved were arrested within 24 hours
- The breakthrough came after the police appealed to the locals for help
Brand new shoes and a black thread on the wrist seen on blurry CCTV footage - this was all the clue the Madhya Pradesh police had to zero in on the men responsible for the rape of a seven-year-old in Mandsaur, which triggered huge protests in the state. The two men allegedly involved were arrested within 24 hours.
The student of Class 2 was lured away by Irfan and Asif when she was standing outside her school on Tuesday, waiting for her parents to pick her up. The men raped her, tortured her and then slit her throat before walking away. The child is still in hospital, where doctors said she is out of danger.
CCTV footage from her school was of little help in zeroing in on the accused, the police told reporters. While placing CCTV cameras in schools has become a mandatory security feature, in this case, one camera was not working, another faced the opposite direction.
The breakthrough came after the police appealed to the locals for help. Many approached with photographs and CCTV footage and in one, from a shop just 150 meters from the school, the police found the vital clues.
The barely 15-second footage was not very clear, but a Sub-Inspector spotted one of the men in it, walking away with the child.
"When we zoomed the footage, the brand was visible and also the black thread," said Rakesh Mohan Shukla, who was in charge of the investigation. "On basis of the footage, one of our informers called us and said he could be Irfan."
The man was arrested around 10 pm, the officer said. "During the inquiry, he understood that we have complete information and that's why he confessed." During questioning, he named Asif as the second accused.