Suspicious death of minor girl near Sivaganga turns out to be murder

Sivaganga district police have cracked a case of “suspicious death” of an unidentified minor girl reported on Thursday with the arrest of a man G. Sathish, 33, on Friday.

The accused had reportedly confessed to have sexually assaulted the girl before murdering her by pushing her into a farm well in Kalkulam village under Sivaganga taluk police station limits in the wee hours of Thursday.

Sivaganga Superintendent of Police Dongare Praveen told The Hindu that the accused, who had earlier served 10-year imprisonment in a POCSO case, had come out of jail only two years back.

Satish had met the girl at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai, where he had admitted his wife for delivery.

The 13-year-old girl, a resident of Surya Nagar in Madurai, had gone to the GRH for her mother’s delivery. “Somehow, the accused had lured the girl and took her on his motorbike. He had first taken her to Vadipatti with the intention to sexually assault her. But, later he came to Kalkulam where his grandfather had lived,” the SP said.

After taking her to a secluded place, he sexually abused her. Later, he took to the farm well late in the night and asked her whether she knew swimming.

“When she said that she did not know swimming, he pushed her into the well and started to hurl stones on her. One of the stones hit her head and she died,” Mr. Dongare said.

The police came to know about the crime only after the farmer, Balusamy, saw the body inside the well on Thursday morning.

The SP formed four teams, led by Sivaganga Deputy Superintendent of Police, Amala Advin, to crack the case.

“We first found the suspect in the case through a CCTV video recording from a local petrol bunk. We identified him as the accused since the girl was also seen in the video. Since, he could not refuel his bike, he had left the bunk,” the SP said.

Later, the police teams had fanned out to different directions and visited all petrol bunks in the vicinity.

“Our men went through the CCTV recordings in all the bunks between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Thursday and the police traced that he had visited another bunk with the CCTV footage,” the SP said.

After refilling the petrol tank, the accused had made the payment using a mobile payment service.

“We then tracked his mobile number through the payment service provider and arrested him,” the SP said.

Meanwhile, Madurai city police registered a girl missing case based on the complaint from the mother of the deceased on Wednesday.

The girl had gone out to buy food for her mother and never returned, the police said.

The SP said that Sathish was convicted in a 2013 POCSO case in Nilakottai.

The SP said that the confession of sexual assault made by the accused needed to be corroborated with scientific evidence. Further investigation was under way, he added.

He appreciated the police team for having cracked the case within 30 hours.

Published - October 25, 2024 09:18 pm IST