Kerela: 5-year-old Girl’s Body Found In Aluva Market, 20 Hours After Being kidnapped

Nearly 20 hours after a five-year-old girl, daughter of migrant workers from Bihar, was kidnapped from near their house at Choornikkara in Aluva in broad daylight, the child was found murdered and sexually abused with several gruesome injuries at a dumping area at the Aluva market along the Periyar river on Saturday. The shocking crime once again highlighted Kerala’s questionable track record in dealing with crimes against children as well as the extreme vulnerability of families of migrant workers, euphemistically called ‘guest’ workers in the state.

Police detained the suspect, Asafaq Alam (29), of Bihar on Friday night, but the body was located only by Saturday noon after he confessed to the crime. According to Kochi range DIG Dr. Srinivas A, who examined the crime site, the victim had visible injuries. “The body was surrounded by three large stones and was coated in trash and plastic. At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, the suspect was taken into custody for the kidnapping charge that had been filed on Friday, according to Srinivas.
According to early analysis, the accused strangled the infant and caused injuries to every part of her body, according to police sources. she also has blunt force injuries to her head. Initially charged with kidnapping under Section 363 of the IPC, police stated that additional charges, such as murder under Section 302 of the IPC and violations of the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, would be filed against the accused.

Accused said the girl was his daughter

Locals claim that the accused arrived three days ago to lodge in a room at Mokath Plaza, an apartment block where migrant workers reside in Choornikkara. A first-grade pupil, the boy is suspected of kidnapping the girl after saying he would buy her candy. When questioned about the child by a bystander who observed them near the Aluva market, he said that she was his daughter and was showing her  the market. At least one suspect was being questioned while in police custody, and police have not ruled out the possibility that more people were involved in the crime. Despite the fact that the youngster had been missing since 3 p.m. on Friday, the victim’s mother did not officially report the incident to Aluva police until after 7 p.m., according to the police. About an hour later, a FIR for kidnapping was filed.

Around 9.30 p.m., police located the suspect in Thottakkattukara, close to Aluva. However, according to police, the individual was inebriated and purposefully trying to mislead them. The man appeared to be a committed criminal who tried to deceive the authorities, according to DIG Srinivas. Given that he speaks Hindi, the Rural SP was asking him directly. He claimed that by dawn, he had begun to cooperate and had admitted guilt. Then he consented to identify the location of the body’s dump. He was then brought here, where the body was discovered. The case would be looked into by a special investigation squad under Aluva DSP.

On Saturday, police concluded the inquest procedures and the postmortem at the Government Medical College in Kalamassery. According to DIG Srinivas, the accused’s remarks about other people, including one Sakeer who the accused claimed he had given the child to, as well as other people, need to be looked at. Police claim that the first video they discovered was taken at 3.03 p.m. from a chicken stall close to the child’s home. The toddler is not with him in another video from 5 o’clock. The murder is believed to have occurred between 3 and 5 o’clock. The police claimed that they were reconstructing his actions in time order. According to witnesses, he was making a scene at around 6 o’clock, according to police.

Police got in touch with Bihar police to inquire about the man’s ancestry there. The investigation is in preliminary stages. “We must ascertain if he did the crime alone or not. The accused had arrived in Ernakulam on July 22 at least in part, according to our findings. We must discover his lineage and the reason he arrived here, the officer stated.