On July 28, a 5-year-old girl went missing and was recovered stuffed in a sack. Medical examinations revealed that she was raped before the murder. The case sent shockwaves throughout the country. The police arrested two accused, namely Asafaq Alam and Zakir.
News agency ANI reported. ‘a test identification parade of eyewitnesses has been ordered in the case in which a minor girl was raped and strangulated to death in Kerala’s Ernakulam district’.
What did the police say?
The police are waiting for a time to be confirmed by the Aluva magistrate. Aluva (Rural) Superintendant of Police (SP), Vivek Kumar told ANI that the police have completed a background check on the accused Asafaq Alam, who hails from Bihar.
The accused is a migrant worker from Sikati Police Station in Bihar’s Arariya District and police said he does not have any criminal record.
The approach of the Police is to collect maximum eye-witness statements to strengthen the case. They will identify the accused through Test Identification Parade.
According to police, they will try maximum to file the charge sheet within 20 days but delays are expected from chemical labs and post-mortem reports.
SIT to probe the case
A Special Investigation Team of the Kerala Police will go to Bihar within three to four days, the Aluva SP said.
The body of a 5-year-old girl the daughter of migrant workers from Bihar, was found murdered and sexually abused with several gruesome injuries at a dumping area at the Aluva market along the Periyar River on Saturday.
The girl was kidnapped from near their house at Choornikkara in Aluva in broad daylight on July 28.
Asafaq Alam raped the minor
The accused who has been arrested, has been identified as Asafaq Alam (29) from Bihar.
“An FIR was lodged around 7 pm. Aluva Police arrested him in an inebriated state. He was misleading the interrogation by giving false statements and he denied his knowledge of this girl as well. But the interrogation based on CCTV visuals led him to confess to crime on Saturday early morning,” Aluva Rural SP Vivek Kumar said.
Police officers said that Asafak Alam, who is originally from Bihar and was a migrant labourer like the parents of the child he allegedly assaulted and killed, had likely committed the crime on his own.
The daughter of a migrant couple from Bihar residing near Choornikara went missing on July 28 around 3.30 PM. She was a Class I student of Thayikkattukara upper primary school.
Accused confessed his crime
Kumar said that after a whole night of interrogation, Alam confessed and accepted committing the crime. He also told them that, after abducting the minor he handed over the girl to Zakir. Later, police took him to the flyover where he handed over the minor to Zakir. Police also detained him but no exchange of money took place between them, to justify the trafficking angle, says a report.
A local trader told the media, “I asked him who the girl was. He claimed that it was his child and said he was going behind the market area to drink alcohol. However, today morning I saw the CCTV visuals of the missing child and Aslam on social media and informed the police.”
The girl’s family is from Bihar and her parents are migrant workers settled in Kerala for the last 8 years. She is survived by her father, mother, elder sister and younger brother.
Sorry Daughter
In a dramatic move, the Kerala police posted an apology on Twitter on July 29, saying, ‘Sorry Daughter’.
“Sorry daughter,” Kerala Police said in a tweet. Police said their efforts to bring the child back safely to her parents went in vain.
“Our efforts to bring her alive to her parents were unsuccessful. The suspect who kidnapped the child was arrested,” read the post in Malayalam.
https://twitter.com/TheKeralaPolice/status/1685238309721903104?s=20
(With inputs from ANI)
