When the parents of a 4-year-old girl from Thirumullaivoyal in Chennai city discovered she was missing, they frantically started searching in the neighborhood. It was only after sometime that they noticed a woven plastic bag immersed in the bucket inside the bathroom of their own home.
In a horrific crime, the four-year-old girl had been murdered, her body stuffed into the bag which bore the name of a rice company, and was placed inside a water bucket with her feet up. Adding to the brutal act, the police suspect that she was sexually assaulted before being murdered. The heinous incident took place on Thursday evening, when the 4-year-old was home alone. Her father had gone to work at a private company in Ambattur and her mother had gone to drop her 8-year-old brother off at an after-school tuition class nearby.
Speaking to TNM, one police officer said, “The mother had left home to drop off her brother at 5 pm. She came back at 5: 15 pm and found her daughter in the bathroom of the house. She had been murdered and put in the bathroom. We are investigating.”
As in a large number of cases of child sexual abuse, the police have detained a 60-year-old man— a relative and neighbour— who was reportedly seen near the house. The police confirmed that when the girl's mother first raised alarm about her missing daughter, this man had helped search for the child along with her. The man is also an army veteran. “However, he has not admitted to the crime yet,” said one police officer. No case has yet been filed against the suspect.
The police, who sent the girl’s body for post mortem last evening, are awaiting its results. “We have found injury marks with blood on the body so according to our preliminary investigation, she may have been sexually assaulted before being murdered. We have to wait for confirmation from the post mortem report.” said one officer.
The brutal incident is reminiscent of another horrific crime that shook the city just two years ago— the rape and murder of a 7-year-old by 23-year-old techie Dhasvanth. Dhasvanth was sentenced to death by the Madras High Court in July last year.