Hours after the body of a six-year-old girl, who was murdered after she was allegedly raped in Haldoni village of Greater Noida , police shot dead the main accused in the incident in an exchange of fire while recreating the sequence of events on Saturday afternoon, police officers aware of the matter said.
An intensive search operation was launched and the body of the minor girl was recovered nearby,” deputy commissioner of police (central Noida) Shailendra Kumar Singh said. “A case was immediately registered, and five teams were formed to recover the girl. The girl’s family, who run a sweet shop in the village, filed a missing person’s complaint at the Ecotech-3 police station on Friday night.
“We believe the rape and murder took place at the house of the other suspect,” additional deputy commissioner of police (central Noida) Swatantra Kumar Singh told HT. The suspect allegedly told police that he had hidden the weapon used in the crime in bushes near the D-Park police outpost, but when he was taken to the area, he pushed the police personnel and opened fire at them with a pistol he had hidden there. Police recovered the girl’s body from an area near a pond in the village on Saturday morning, officials said, following which residents gathered on the village’s main road and raised slogans. Police said CCTV footage and information gathered from other sources helped them identify the main suspect, who was taken into custody for questioning on Saturday afternoon.
Police are investigating the role of an extended family member of the girl. The main accused was a 40-year-old man, police said, adding they suspect that the girl was abducted and sexually assaulted at the house of a second suspect.
Locals said the accused was a tenant of the girl’s uncle. The girl went missing on Friday around afternoon, and two suspects were identified by the police .
