Pramesh S Jain
The Whitefield police,investigating the murder of a six-year-old girl,have invoked provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused after ascertaining the motive behind the crime,police said on Saturday.
The victim,Shahnaz Khatun,daughter of Inzamam Sheikh,a migrant labourer from West Bengal,was found dead in a drain hours after she went missing.officer said the child was strangled to death.
According to investigators,Inzamam Sheikh had seen his daughter playing in front of the family’s makeshift house when he briefly returned home for lunch on January 5.
When the girl failed to return later in the day,a search was launched,and her body was subsequently recovered.
Police zeroed in on the accused,Yusuf Meer,also a migrant labourer from West Bengal who lived in the same neighbourhood.
Meer was tracked down and arrested in Odisha a day later,after he attempted to flee to his hometown with his family.
Acting on specific intelligence,a Whitefield police team chased and apprehended him.
Investigators said Meer had earlier had a quarrel with the girl’s mother.To take revenge,he allegedly kidnapped and killed the child while she was playing outside her house on the day of the incident.
Though police initially ruled out sexual assault,fresh evidence related to the motive prompted investigators to add POCSO sections to the case,a senior police officer said.
Police,however,said they are awaiting the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report to further corroborate the evidence collected during the investigation.
