The city police on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl and threw her from the terrace of a house in Maduravoyal.
Police said the girl was the only daughter of a couple who migrated from Rajasthan and settled here 12 years ago. The victim was studying in Class 5 of a matriculation school.
The victim’s father is a street vendor and the family depends on his earnings from selling bajjis .
The family was living in the first floor of two-storey residential building. On Friday night, the girl was sleeping with her mother while the father was sleeping in another room.
At 11.30 p.m. on Friday, the girl woke up and went to toilet outside their house. Her mother, who woke up a little later,was shocked to see her daughter missing. The toilet light was on. She alerted her husband and both searched for their daughter.
They went to the second floor where Mr. Suresh lived. They did not get any response from him despite knocking on his door several times.
In panic, the couple alerted the police control room. A patrol team attached to the Maduravoyal police rushed to the spot. By then, the parents found the girl lying in the backyard of a building. Blood was oozing out from her nose and the suspect too helped in rushing the child to a private hospital where she was declared brought dead, the police said. Her body was taken to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
Maduravoyal police grilled Suresh when he led the police to the crime spot. When interrogated, he confessed to the crime, the police said.
Victim was gagged
The investigation revealed that he was watching the girl. When she stepped out late night, he gagged her and took her to his room where he raped her. As she fainted, the accused threw her from the terrace, the police said.
The offender was booked under sections 376AB (Punishment for rape on girl under twelve years of age), 302 (Punishment for murder) of Indian Penal Code and 5 (m) (whoever commits penetrative sexual assault on a child below twelve years and 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.
