india

Updated: Jun 10, 2019 18:57 IST

The Madhya Pradesh police on Monday said they have arrested the mains suspect in the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl whose body was recovered from a sewer on Sunday morning, hardly 20 meters away from her home in Bhopal.

The girl had gone missing from her home in a slum on Saturday night.

The suspect, Vishnu Prasad, a labourer, lived as a tenant in the neighbourhood of the victim in the slum.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Irshad Wali said, “Vishnu was arrested from a bus stand of Khandwa district, 271 km south of Bhopal.”

“Vishnu, who got the rented accommodation with help of the victim’s father, accompanied the father of the victim in searching the girl till 3 am on Sunday. Around 3 .30 am, other people of the locality, who were also searching the girl, got back home to rest. It was when Vishnu dumped the body in the sewer and fled from the spot,” said Wali.

In the morning, police and forensic teams found the victim’s broken bangles and blood stains in Vishnu’s house. The Bhopal police then formed 20 teams who were sent to different locations to nab him.

Earlier on Monday morning, local residents and family members of the victim staged a chakka jam demanding arrest of the accused. A heavy police force was deployed in the area to keep the situation under control.

On Sunday, the police administration suspended seven policemen including an assistant sub-inspector for dereliction of duty after the girl’s family complained that they did not act promptly when they reached the police station at about 8 pm on Saturday.

The victim’s uncle alleged that despite complaint on Dial 100, police did not come to their home.

“Some police personnel came at night after intervention of a local corporator and instead of showing seriousness they demanded chairs to sit and water to drink. They asked the family members to go to bed saying the girl would return by herself or she might have eloped with somebody,” he said.