On 23rd July, the authorities apprehended a man from Goripalya on charges of abducting and raping his four-year-old relative before disposing of her body on the roadside at Thippagondanahalli in the Magadi police station area of the Ramanagara district on 20th July. The accused has been identified as 34-year-old Irfan Khan from Kengeri who works as a labourer in Kalasipalya, Bengaluru. He would frequently go to the victim’s home.
Irfan Khan reportedly took her away after he visited her and enticed her with the promise of ice cream. The crime was committed near Old Masjid Mohalla Road in Magadi Town police station limits in Ramanagara. Her partially nude body ended up on Tippagondanahalli Road next to some shrubs.
Parents began searching for their missing child when she did not come home till the evening and discovered that the perpetrator had been spotted at a store with her. He feigned ignorance and later switched off his phone when the minor’s family called him. Afterwards they notified the police who filed a missing person’s report. The cops also received the CCTV footage and explored technical leads after which they found the girl travelling along Thippagondahalli Road with the offender. They further learned about her body on the roadside.
The police then carried out a search operation and recovered her body as well as located Irfan Khan who had gone into hiding. She had been sexually assaulted, according to the postmortem, informed a police official. He was a habitual offender and had been arrested for pickpocketing in the past. The authorities have lodged a case on the girl’s father’s complaint and slapped abduction and murder charges on the culprit as well as invoked the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against him. The matter is currently under investigation.
