Accused Sunil Kumar arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl earlier this month had abducted and killed seven more girls — aged between 3 to 8 years — after raping them in separate cases in Gurugram, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh over the past two years, the police said on Tuesday.
Of the seven victims, two are from Gurugram, three from Delhi and one each from Gwalior and Jhansi, said DCP (Crime) Sumit Kuhar.
From religious places
The 20-year-old Sunil would abduct minor girls from near bhandaras (community feasts) at religious places. Then he would rape and later kill them, the police said. He would also abduct minor girls from slums when their parents would be away for work.
Mr. Kuhar said the accused would brutalise his victims — break their limbs — before killing them.
Sunil had confessed to the murders during interrogation and the facts were being verified from the police stations concerned, the officer said.
Besides the rape and murder of the three-year-old, abducted from a slum cluster in Sector 66 on November 11, Sunil had kidnapped a girl from outside a temple on Sohna Road in November 2016 and another girl at Civil Lines in January last. Both the girls were raped and murdered.
In the present case, the victim was subjected to brutality during rape causing severe injuries to her private parts. She was hit with a heavy object and died due to head injuries. Mr. Kuhar said the police have questioned around 2,000 vagabonds sleeping on the roads during an extensive search operation for the accused. “We had information that he preferred to eat at community feasts at religious places and slept on the roads. We conducted three community feasts on November 13, 22 and 24 laying a trap for him,” said Mr. Kuhar.
Sunil ate at a gurudwara and spent the night at Nehru Park after the commission of crime on November 11. He then reached Delhi and took a train to Uttar Pradesh on the next day after spending the night under Nizamuddin bridge.
The senior police officer said on the earlier two occasions, the police had no clue but this time around he was seen luring the victim. He was also captured on a CCTV camera at a group housing society along with his victim and his relatives also provided his picture.
The accused is from UP’s Mahoba district. He was nabbed from at UP’s Magapur village on Monday. Sunil was produced before the court in the afternoon and remanded in eight days police custody, the police said.
