The police on Saturday released sketches of the suspect in Thursday’s rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl at Sulibele on the city’s outskirts.

Around eight special teams were formed and dispatched to different locations to track the suspect. Fingerprints of the suspect have been obtained from the scene of crime and are being examined.

The owner of the shed in Pillagumpa Industrial Area, where the crime occurred, has been questioned. Police prepared the sketch based on CCTV footage from a nearby shop.

Though the images were not clear to make out the facial features of the suspect, a rough sketch was prepared, a senior police officer said.

Any person providing information about the suspect will be suitably rewarded, he added.

Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect spoke to a few people before committing the crime.

Labourer

One of them told the police that the suspect claimed to be a labourer at a ceramic and tiles factory nearby.

However, the police hit a dead end after examining employee records.

Fingerprints of the suspect have been obtained from the scene of crime and are being examined