42-year-old arrested for kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old girl | Mumbai News

THANE: A 42-year-old man was arrested by Crime Branch officials in Bhiwandi on Thursday for kidnapping a 9-year-old girl from his neighbourhood and then raping and murdering her. The officers of Thane Crime Branch Unit 2 said the accused lured the minor girl with chocolates. He was arrested within two hours after the incident was reported to the police.

This is the second case in 10 months in Bhiwandi area. In September 2023, a six-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Later, the accused threw her body in a bucket.

According to police, the nine-year-old victim lived with her family in a chawl in Govind Nagar, a locality in Shanti Nagar district of Bhiwandi. The girl’s father is employed in a factory in the area and her mother works in a warehouse. They have three daughters and a son. The two elder sisters had gone to work with their mother and the brother was at school. When the incident occurred on Thursday afternoon, the victim was alone at home after returning from school.

Police officials said Thursday afternoon that the accused, who lived on the floor above the victim’s apartment, lured her with a chocolate and took her to his room, where she was raped. The man later slit her throat with a knife. He then locked the door from the outside and fled.

In the evening, the girl’s brother came home from school. When he noticed that the front door was closed, he peeked through the window to look for his sister. However, he could not find her. Later, the mother and older sister came home and started looking for the girl.

During their search, a young boy nearby pointed out that he had seen the girl go into an upstairs room in the house next door. The worried family members then went into the room and found the girl’s body in a pool of blood.

On receiving information about the incident, Shanti Nagar police immediately swung into action, arrived at the scene, conducted a random examination and sent the body to JJ Hospital for forensic examination.

Besides the local police, the Crime Branch Unit 2 under the leadership of Police Inspector Yogesh Awhad launched parallel investigations. The police conducted thorough and meticulous searches of nearby places such as liquor parlors, open fields, closed and dilapidated houses and loom factories.

According to sources, the suspect was arrested within two hours from a vacant dilapidated house in Narayan Compound in Shanti Nagar. He confessed to the crime and was subsequently handed over to Shanti Nagar police station for further investigation.

The accused were charged under Sections 103(1) (death penalty or life imprisonment), 64(2)(i) (rape of incapable woman), 64(2)(l) (causing grievous bodily harm during rape), 137(2) (abduction) and other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 6 (aggravated sexual assault by penetration), 8, 10 and 12 (punishment for sexual offences against children) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.