Alipurduar district police cracked a case involving the abduction and murder of a seven-year-old girl on Tuesday.
The child went missing last Tuesday. Her family had filed a complaint at the local police station.
The police initiated a probe and started checking CCTV footage of various locations and neighbouring towns.
Eventually, they came across footage where she was spotted with Bablu Mian, a 50-year-old man who was from the same area as the child.
“The child met him and didn't return home ever since. The man also went missing,” said a police officer.
The police started searching for him but could not track Mian.
“Mian doesn't use a cell phone. Thus, we had to explore other options to track him,” the officer added.
Eventually, the cops located him near the India-Nepal border. He was taken into custody and brought back to Alipurduar. Two others, suspected to be his associates, were also detained.
“We have also found a video footage where Bablu Mian was seen and heard confessing that three of them have murdered the girl,” said a police source.
Mian, on being nabbed, took the police to a locality near the girl's house where her body, partially charred, was recovered from a bush.
As the news spread, a section of residents got agitated and stopped the police from taking away the body. After some time, police could send the body to the Alipurduar district hospital for post-mortem.
“We suspect the girl was raped and murdered and then the accused tried to burn her body to wipe off the evidence. Charges of kidnapping, murder, and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) have been brought against him,” said the officer.
Y. Raghubhamshi, the district police chief, said: “The accused will be produced in court tomorrow (Wednesday). Our officers are gathering more information about the incident. We are also waiting for the child's post-mortem report,” he said.