In a gruesome incident in the national capital, an 8-year-old minor girl was kidnapped, raped, and subsequently brutally murdered and dumped in the forest of Yamuna Khadar in Central Delhi by her mother’s friend. According to the Delhi police, the accused, namely Rizwan alias Badshah slit the girl’s throat and mutilated her face as the latter had seen him with her mother in a comprising position.
The police arrested Rizwan and the knife used in the crime was recovered. The accused reportedly confessed that he mutilated the minor’s face and hid her body in the jungle after the rape and murder.
Rizwan, who worked as a butcher in the Turkman Gate area, was also reportedly a drug addict.
Speaking about the crime, Central District DCP Shweta Chauhan told news agency ANI, “Rizwan alias Badshah used to visit the house and was in a relationship with the mother of the deceased. He is a butcher by profession. He confessed to the crime – the victim had seen him with her mother and he didn’t want it to come out in the open.”
In what transpired, on the intervening night of August 4-5, a resident of Daryaganj reported that he was sleeping at his home with his wife and four children when he awoke around 4 a.m. to find one of his daughters missing.
After searching for her in the neighbourhood and failing to locate her, he filed a complaint and a case of kidnapping under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code was registered, according to police.
On August 18, the body of the missing 8-year-old was found in the Yamuna Khadar area. The body had sharp injuries on it.
A senior police officer privy to the case said that after the post-mortem report was obtained, the FIR was amended to include sections 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Giving details of the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Shweta Chauhan said that a team of 50 police officers was formed to investigate the case, and a large search has been launched to find the perpetrator.
All nearby CCTV cameras were examined, but no evidence was discovered. According to her, approximately 200 people living in and around the Yamuna Khadar area were interrogated in order to obtain information about the perpetrator.
DCP further said that “secret information was received that one Rizwan alias Badshah who is a butcher by profession used to visit the jhuggi frequently and had befriended the victim with toffees and other things.
“It was revealed that on the day of the incident, Rizwan had come to Yamuna Khadar… Rizwan was searched and overpowered. On sustained interrogation, he confessed to the crime,” she said.
According to the DCP, Rizwan revealed that during his visits to the Yamuna Khadar area, he developed intimacy with the victim’s mother and befriended the minor girl. He also stated that the victim witnessed him engaging in a sexual encounter with her mother, so he decided to eliminate her.
Rizwan stated that he went to the victim’s neighbourhood and smoked weed on the day of the incident. He waited until it was dark and all members of the victim’s family were asleep. He then entered the family’s hut and he saw the young girl sleeping inside with her family. He kidnapped the minor girl and took her to a remote location in the Yamuna Khadar forest area, where he raped her. “He then slit her throat and mutilated her face,” Chauhan informed.