gurgaon

Updated: Nov 22, 2018 08:58 IST

First he would lure a girl with money, usually a Rs 10 note, take her to a room and once he raped her, would bludgeon her to death with a brick. In his crimes, he would wear his “lucky” blue shirt.

This, police said, is how 20-year-old Sunil Kumar allegedly described how he killed three girls in Gurugram between 2016 to 2018. Police said the accused revealed this during questioning. He also allegedly admitted to killing six other girls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The reason why he was caught, Kumar allegedly told police, is because he wasn’t wearing his “lucky” blue shirt.

Kumar was held on Monday from Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Gurugram’s Sector 66 earlier this month.

“He said he felt that whenever he wore the blue shirt and committed a crime, the police could never trace him. He was surprised that despite taking all the precautions he was caught,” said K K Rao, commissioner of police.

“He would approach girls between three to eight years of age at religious community kitchens when their parents are distracted and he took advantage of the crowd,” said Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime).

Police said Kumar told them that he would prepare himself before a crime. He said he used to carry out reconnaissance of the area a day before, said police, and would visit the crime spot, keep bricks and sticks close by. He also took care not to use his mobile phone while luring the victim, said police, and this made it difficult for police to track him.

“He always kept Rs 10 note in trousers. Whenever he got an opportunity, he would offer it to the girl on the pretext of buying them a chocolate and lured them. When the victims followed him, the accused would take them to an isolated place, spend some time talking to them to ensure the victim was comfortable and that no one suspected anything,” said Raj Kumar, sub-inspector CIA said. “He would then commit the crime.”

Police said that their probe into the Sector 66 incident had a stark resemblance to a similar crime a few years ago. Then too, the accused lured girls from community kitchens. With this in mind, the police tried to lay a trap by organising community kitchens in the garb of a religious function. They spent around Rs 3 lakh in this operation across Gurugram, Delhi and UP. However, the suspect was finally arrested from an independently-organised community kitchen.

Based on Kumar’s “confession”, police on Wednesday spoke to the families of two other victims. While one could not identify the accused from a photo, the other said they knew him and had seen him on the day the girl was kidnapped but could not confirm if he was involved in the crime, police said.

The accused on Tuesday had allegedly confessed to his involvement in nine cases of raping and murdering minor girls. During the probe, the police examined around 150 hours of CCTV footage from the areas where the crimes had taken place, Rao added.

A psychological evaluation of the accused man will be conducted to assess his behavioural and mental condition, officials said.

Gururgam police will write to its counterparts regarding unsolved rape and murder cases of minor to check his involvement at the suspected locations in Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, and Jhansi.