A 3-year-old girl who had been playing with her friends at Gurugram, a suburb of India’s capital New Delhi, was violently raped and beaten to death after a stranger lured her away with sweets.
The horrific crime was discovered when friends told the girl’s family that they had seen her wandering off with a stranger. Panicked, the family frantically searched for the toddler and were devastated to find her remains at an abandoned store, just 300 yards away from where she went missing, the next morning.
According to the Hindustan Times, the victim was found in a pool of her own blood, with visible injuries on her shoulder, waist, chest and back. The child’s head was covered with a plastic bag as four bricks lay atop her body, in an attempt to hide her body. Her clothes, which had been removed, were discovered in a pile nearby.
Medical examiners found that the child had been raped with a wooden tool that caused her to suffer severe internal injuries, before she was struck on the head with a brick. The head injury caused her skull to fracture and, coupled with excessive bleeding, led to her death
The police have since launched a manhunt for their prime suspect, 20-year-old migrant labourer Sunil Kumar. The police have accused the man, who was in the city visiting his mother and two sisters, of murder, aggravated rape and crimes against a child.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Shamsher Singh told the press: “He has been missing since the incident. We have questioned the family members of the accused and recorded their statement.”
This is the believed to be the 107th recorded sexual offence against a minor in Gurugram this year alone. 40 such cases were recorded between just September and October this year, according to a child welfare spokesperson.