9-year-old girl raped and killed in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, neighbour worker who often gave her sweets arrested | Mumbai News

BHIWANDI: A 9-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered with a sharp weapon in Bhiwandi on Thursday. The girl’s body was found at a neighbour’s house in the building where she lived. A 45-year-old labourer, who lived in the room where the girl was found dead, has been arrested for the crime.

The girl’s family moved into the building as tenants about a month ago, police said. She lived there with her parents and an older brother.

The worker, who worked on a mechanical loom, provided the girl with treats such as mangoes and sweets in the short time since the family moved in, which the girl’s parents did not particularly like.

The child was home alone on Thursday afternoon, police said. The parents had gone to work at a camp while the older brother was at school.

Police added that their investigation revealed that the worker, who lived alone, lured the child with sweets and brought her to his house, where he sexually abused her and then killed her with a sharp weapon before fleeing.

Later that same day, around 7 p.m., the girl’s father came home from work and found that his daughter was missing. He began searching for her in the neighborhood. Since she was nowhere to be found, neighbors joined in the search for the child in other houses in their building.

The worker’s apartment was locked from the outside. When the father entered the house to look for the child, he found his daughter lying lifeless in the house; the worker was not there.

The girl was taken to the hospital where doctors pronounced her dead. The hospital told police that the child had been sexually abused.

An offence was registered at Shanti Nagar police station. The local police team along with Crime Branch officials were conducting parallel investigations in the case.

The worker was found hiding in a house near the loom he was working on, police said, adding that he was nabbed early Friday morning.

The worker, who hails from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, lived in Bhiwandi and worked on the loom for many years. His wife and two children live in the village.