25 May,2016 10:50 AM IST | | Samiullah Khan
The girl from Malwani, who had gone missing on Monday evening, was found murdered in the mangroves barely 50 metres from her home. Cops found girl’s body with blood on her genitals
Sordid crimes against children refuse to end. A seven-year-old girl from Malwani, who had gone missing on Monday evening, was found murdered in the mangroves barely 50 metres from her home. Cops are suspecting a case of rape, since there was blood on the girl's genitals when they found her.
Locals and Malwani police recovered her body in the wee hours of Tuesday, at 12.40 am. The police detained a dozen suspects for interrogation.
The girl used to live with her grandparents in Malwani, while her parents resided in Madh. According to police sources, the girl went missing on Monday at around 4 pm. Her grandparents were searching for her and when they could not find her anywhere by 8 pm, the grandfather approached Malwani police and registered a missing person's complaint.
Didn't send cops earlier
"The cops were busy registering her missing complaint, but in the meanwhile, they did not send any policeman to the spot to search for the girl. It was only around 9.30 pm, when the girl's parents approached the police with some neighbours and started shouting at them, that the on-duty officer sent a few constables to the spot," said Anita Indulkar, the girl's neighbour.
Around 10.30 pm, a police team came to the spot and began searching the spot along with the locals and around 12.40 am, they found the body from the mangroves, below a mattress, which had also been dumped inside the bushes. After doing the necessary paperwork, the body was sent for a post mortem at Kandivli's Shatabdi Hospital.
"Had the cops reached the spot earlier, the girl would have perhaps been alive today," said another neighbour.
Speaking to mid-day, her mother echoed the same sentiment, saying, "Had the police done the right thing at the right time, perhaps they could have saved my daughter's life."
Cop says
DCP M Ramkumar from Zone XII, who has an additional charge of Zone 11, denied the neighbours' allegations and said they dispatched a team to look for the girl as soon as the case was registered. "We have registered a complaint against unknown persons under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 302 (murder) of IPC. Few suspects have been detained," he said, adding, "We have got important leads and soon the accused will be behind bars."
