A man and his three accomplices were arrested on Friday for allegedly killing a nine-year-old girl with an iron rod after abducting her in a car to Tibra near Uttar Pradesh’s Modinagar, the police said.
The accused, Johnny alias Shiva (40), a driver by profession, and his accomplices Naresh, Kailash and Tarun were arrested from Modinagar. The girl’s body was recovered from a field in Tibra village on Friday, they said.
The police said Johnny, along with his accomplices, hatched the conspiracy to kidnap the girl, who lived in his locality, to extort money from her parents. However, when he got to know that they were suspecting him to be behind the abduction, he panicked and allegedly killed the girl with the help of his accomplices.
The matter came to notice on Monday after her parents lodged a complaint at Kalyanpuri police station, stating that their daughter had gone missing while she was playing outside the house, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Deepak Yadav said all the four accused in the case have been arrested and the weapon of offence have been seized.
Interrogation of the accused have so far has revealed that the girl was picked up by Johnny from the locality at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday. He abducted the girl in his car along with Naresh. Later on their way, they were joined by Tarun and the other accomplices, a senior police officer said.
Soon after the girl went missing, locals and neigbours started searching for the her and also suspected Johnny as he was also missing from the area around the same time. When Johnny got to know about this development, he panicked and one of his accomplices suggested him to destroy the evidence. They decided to kill the girl, he said.
They took her to Tibra village and killed her inside the car with an iron rod. Both Johnny and Tarun have confessed to having been present during the incident. Further interrogation of the accused persons is under way, the officer added.
After killing the girl, they dumped her body in a field in Tibra village. The body of the girl was recovered by the police on Friday morning following which all the four accused in the case were arrested, the police said.
Meanwhile, locals staged a protest in the area and attacked a police vehicle alleging a delay in registering complaint. The police, however, denied the allegations and said the complaint was registered on time.
