The man arrested for the alleged sexual assault and murder of the seven-year-old daughter of his neighbour was part of a search team looking for the girl after she had been reported missing on Sunday, police said.
When the girl’s parents had raised the alarm that their daughter could not be found, several neighbours stepped out of their homes to look for the girl in the four-storey building, an officer attached to the probe said. Alok Kumar, 32, who allegedly tortured and then strangled the girl, was one of them, the police said.
The child had last been seen on Sunday morning throwing garbage.
“To divert suspicion, he had joined the search party himself. The neighbours were looking for the girl who was actually in Kumar’s own flat,” said an officer attached to the probe.
Later, on Sunday evening, the police said they found the girl’s body in a gunny bag hidden in Kumar’s flat. He had allegedly kept the body for disposal at night.
The news of the child’s death triggered violent protests outside the local police station that spread across pockets of southeast Kolkata on Monday.
A total of 20 persons were arrested till Tuesday in connection with the rioting and arson that happened as an outcome of the incident.
All 20 were remanded in police custody till April 1.
Kumar, after his arrest, is said to have told the cops that he was advised by a tantrik to sacrifice a girl child so his wife — who is pregnant — could give birth to a healthy child.
The police said according to his statement, his wife underwent multiple miscarriages and hence Kumar had sought the help of a tantrik who he said he had met at Nimtala Ghat.
The Telegraph had erroneously reported on Tuesday that Kumar’s wife underwent “multiple abortions”.
“As of now, we have not found any tantrik in north and central Kolkata matching the description that Kumar has given us,” a senior police officer said.
An officer in the homicide wing said according to the statement of the accused, he had spotted the girl a few days ago when she came out of her home to throw garbage, which she would do at a particular time every day.
“He had dragged the girl into his flat and gagged her mouth and tied her hands. However, there was still a possibility that people in neighbouring flats would hear her struggling to escape. Hence, he had switched the radio on a loud volume,” said the officer.
Kumar, who has been charged with murder and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, is in police custody.