Accused identified with help of CCTV footage

A resident of Rajasthan has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Ferozepur Jhirka here this past week.

The accused, Mukeem alias Musti, was arrested by the Special Investigation Team on Monday after he was identified with the help of a closed-circuit television camera footage.

Superintendent of Police, Nuh, Sangeeta Kalia, told The Hindu that the accused, along with the girl’s goat, was caught in a cctv camera at a shrine in the village and the police acted on the lead to identify and arrest him. Ms. Kalia said thieves from Rajasthan cross over to Nuh to steal goats and cattle and the CCTV footage of the suspect with the goat had hinted that he belonged to the neighbouring State.

Isolated spot

The accused purportedly told the police that he was in possession of the girl’s goat when she came looking for it. When the girl asked him to return her goat, he slapped her. He then raped her and strangled her to death taking advantage of the fact that the spot was an isolated place in the mountains.

The eight-year-old girl, a resident of a village in Ferozepur Jhirka area, had taken her goats for grazing in the forest with her friends on December 26 when she went missing. Her parents her found dead in the mountains on December 27 morning and informed the police.

The girl had gone to the mountains since her school was closed on account of cold conditions in the State.