Mumbai: 4-year-old raped, murdered; body dumped on Sion-Panvel Highway

A four-year-old girl was abducted, raped and murdered by an unidentified man in Mankhurd yesterday. Her body was found dumped in the bushes near Mankhurd T Junction on Sion-Panvel Highway.

Locals at the spot where the girl's body was found. Pic/Tahir Beig

The body was recovered after a passerby noticed it and informed the Mumbai Police control room.

The cops then called the victim's mother, who had filed an FIR on her daughter's abduction on Sunday.

She is the only breadwinner in her family since her husband is mentally challenged. She has four children - three girls and a boy - including the victim. She sells nuts at railway platforms.

The victim's mother identified the body and alleged that her daughter was first abducted, raped and later murdered.

On Sunday night, the victim and her mother were on their way back home when at Mankhurd railway station, the mother stopped at a shop to purchase something.

A 22 year-old youth approached them and asked if he could give a chocolate to his daughter, which she refused and asked him to go.

After a few minutes, she noticed that her daughter wasn't with her. She searched the entire station and then approached the Mankhurd police to lodge an FIR. She said she can identify the man who approached her.

CCTV footage of the station does show the victim with her mother but the area, from where she was abducted, is not under CCTV surveillance. Moreover, while cops did not find any evidence from the spot, sources said prima facie it seems that the girl was raped and then murdered somewhere else.

Mankhurd police have registered an FIR against an unidentified person under various sections of IPC including rape and murder.

"We are going to prepare the sketches of the youth who offered her a chocolate. Until now, we don't have any clue but we are investigating," said Nasir Sheikh, Police Sub Inspector (PSI) at Mankhurd police station.