lucknow

Updated: Dec 02, 2019 19:03 IST

In a shocking incident, a sexual predator raped and sodomised a 30-year-old woman and her nine-year-old daughter after injuring them grievously with a blunt object at their home in Azamgarh, UP, on November 24-25 night, said police on Monday. Before the sexual assault, said cops, the accused had also attacked the woman’s husband and their two sons -- aged five years and four months -- with a stone, killing the man and the baby.

The accused, 28-year-old Nazirudeen, a resident of the same area as the victims, was arrested on Monday, said police.

The gory crime resulted in the death of the woman -- who succumbed after being left in a vegetative state for hours -- her husband, 34, and their infant son, said cops. The couple’s daughter and their other son were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Azamgarh where they were stated to be stable, said police.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Azamgarh, Triveni Singh said, “The accused raped and sodomised the woman and her daughter at least twice during his three-hour stay at their house. Before the sexual assault, he injured all the family members by hitting them repeatedly with a blunt object. First, he attacked and killed the woman’s husband.”

He said the accused showed behavioural symptoms of a “psychopathic sexual offender”. “Nazirudeen targeted the family after getting fascinated with the woman. During the assault, he even consumed virility pills that he had purchased from a medical shop in a nearby town,” said Singh.

Sharing further details about the deviant behaviour displayed by the accused, the SSP said, “Nazirudeen made videos of the entire crime on his mobile phone, which he also showed to a woman of his own family. He told this to the police during interrogation. The crime was executed in the most gruesome manner with no display of mercy or human dignity.”

Nabbed due to cellphone location

Singh said the police zeroed in on the accused after analysing mobile tower data and his cellphone’s location at the time of the incident. “This data as well as history of his behaviour towards women helped us in cracking the case,” he said.

The SSP said that the incident, which occurred under the Mubarakpur police station limits, had triggered panic in the area. “The bodies of the couple and the baby were found inside their house -- located in a deserted spot nearly 200 metres from the village population. The other two children were found lying injured and were rushed to the hospital,” he said.

‘Performed recce’

Singh said the accused confessed during interrogation that he first conducted a recce. “Once he determined that the woman’s house was located in a place from where their screams would not be heard by other residents of the village, he decided to commit the crime. He scaled the boundary wall of the house after midnight and instantly attacked the woman’s husband with a stone, expecting him to pose the maximum resistance. He then hit the woman and her daughter when they tried to raise an alarm. After that he attacked the other two children,” said the SSP.

He said the man and the baby died immediately, while the woman died after some hours.

‘Some prostitutes had banned his entry at their place’

The SSP said that when the police probed into Nazirudeen’s background, he turned out to be a “sex maniac”.

“His wife had left his home because of his deviant behaviour just a few weeks ago. After that, he reportedly loitered around the village in search of a prey. The background check also revealed that he often visited prostitutes, some of whom had banned his entry at their place due to his abnormal sexual behaviour,” said Singh.

Trial to be fast-tracked

“We will surely place the trial on fast track at the court to get the accused convicted and awarded capital punishment for the gruesome crime,” said the SSP.

He said the police were carefully collecting all forensic, electronic and physical evidence to nail him down in the court. “Moreover, the testimonies of the two child survivors will be crucial in getting him convicted and punished,” said Singh.

The SSP said that the police had initially registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Later, sections 376 (rape) and 376-A (inflicting injury during rape that causes death or the victim to be in a persistent vegetative state) were also added, he said. “Besides, Section 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 (for aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child) has also been slapped on the accused,” said the SSP.