Youth arrested for murder of 2.5-year-old girl ‘for revenge’

Youth arrested for murder of 2.5-year-old girl ‘for revenge’

PUNE: A 19-year-old youth was arrested on Wednesday by Pune city police on charges of allegedly kidnapping a two-and-half-year-old girl, who was sleeping with her parents on a footpath on Pune station-Maldhakka Chowk Road and then assaulting her inside a coach on the Pune railway station premises early Tuesday morning. 

The arrested person was identified as Prathmesh Babu Gaikwad, a resident of Jejuri, who resided on the railway station premises. He is a vagabond. 

DCP (Zone 2) Shirish Sardeshpande said the arrested person during interrogation said the victim’s relatives beat him up a few days back and hence, he killed her in revenge. 

“Postmortem report ruled out rape. However, there are bite marks on her face and we have got a dental forensic team for examination. Their report will be used as evidence,” Sardeshpande added. 

Based on a complaint from her mother (20), an FIR has been registered with Bundgarden police station against the suspect for offences under section 302 (murder) and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

The police are invoking sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as several bite marks were found on the victim’s face. 

According to police, the girl was born to the complainant from her first husband. After separating from him, she married another man. She works as a domestic maid and lives on the footpath on the road opposite the Railway Hospital.

Senior Police Inspector Sunil Tambe, who is in-charge of Bundgarden police station, said the family members went to sleep around 11 pm on Monday. 

The accused kidnapped the victim in the wee hours. Her mother realised it around 5 am on Tuesday when she woke up and raised an alarm. Meanwhile, the cleaning staff found the girl lying in a pool of blood at 7 am in a railway coach in the yard of Pune railway station and alerted police. She was taken to Sassoon Hospital where she succumbed to injuries. 

Based on CCTV footages, cops identified Gaikwad and nabbed him from Tadiwala Road area. The investigation team included Police Inspector (Crime) Digambar Shinde, API Sandip Jamdade and their detection branch team. Police Sub Inspector Priyanka Gaikwad is investigating the case.

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