A three-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped, raped and killed by her neighbour in southwest Delhi, police said on Friday.

The girl's body was found dumped in a drain and the accused was arrested after a brief exchange of fire, they said. According to police, the incident occurred on Wednesday evening when the victim's family reported the kidnapping of their daughter from the Kapashera area.

"A police team was sent to the spot immediately. The victim's mother told police that her daughter was playing outside of the house at around 6 pm when her neighbour kidnapped her" said the DCP.

Based on her complaint, an FIR was lodged and a massive search operation was launched to trace the girl and the accused. Police examined the CCTV footage, he said.

"In one camera, at 7.05 pm, the accused was seen with the girl going towards a drain. In the same camera, he was caught returning alone without the girl at around 7.25 pm," DCP Meena said.

The accused was traced and detained at about 11.55 pm, the same day from a bus heading towards Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, he said. "He was interrogated and initially denied having played any role whatsoever in the kidnapping. But during sustained interrogation, he broke down and admitted to having killed and dumped the girl in a marshy drain located at the border of Gurgaon and Kapashera," DCP said.

Police said that the accused then led the team to the drain, where they launched a search operation, he said. The crime and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) teams were also called to the spot, he said. "After a long search operation lasting more than an hour in the dark, the girl's body was finally found dumped in the marshy drain," he added.

"At that moment, the accused sensed an opportunity to escape. He grabbed the loaded service revolver of a police officer, tried to escape from custody, and fired at the team. The police fired in self-defence and hit him. He was immediately rushed to Indira Gandhi Hospital," Meena said. "The body was examined by the FSL and crime team. The accused was arrested and is now in judicial custody. The body was sent for post-mortem," Meena said. "The autopsy report confirmed that the girl was raped. We are adding 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO Act) to the earlier sections 363 (abduction), 302 (murder) of the IPC," he added.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.