Sudesh Kumar

NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old man was arrested for murdering his 13-year-old daughter after he caught her talking to a youth in his neighbourhood in Shiv Vihar in northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar .

The man later accompanied his wife and other relatives to register a missing case at the local police station and even pretended to search for her in the locality. A case of kidnapping had been filed by the cops on Friday morning, based on the complaint of the father , Sudesh Kumar . The teenager’s decomposed body was found later in the day in a ditch near Ghaziabad’s Tronica City.

DCP (northeast) Ajit Kumar Singla said, “A team led by additional DCP RP Meena was formed to track the girl. The youth, about whom Kumar had suspicions, was also questioned. However, during the probe, the activity of the child’s father was found to be suspicious. Kumar was later questioned during which he admitted to have murdered the child.”

According to the cops, Vanshika , studying in Class VII of a government school, had become friends with a 19-year-old employee of a mobile repair shop. She had been meeting him secretly for the past six months. When her family members came to know about it, they stopped her from leaving home.

Family members, however, said that Vanshika kept on meeting the youth secretly. “She used to meet him while returning from school or on the pretext of going to a shop nearby,” said a family member.

On March 7, Vanshika had left home saying that she was going to get momos for herself. Kumar told cops that he suspected her intentions and followed her. He saw her talking to the youth, who, on seeing Kumar, fled from the spot.

Kumar asked Vanshika to get on his motorcycle and reached Mandola near Tronica City. He then slit her throat using a kitchen knife, which he had carried with him. He dumped the body and the knife in a ditch and rode back home.

While scanning the footage from a CCTV camera installed outside the momo shop, cops saw Vanshika on her father’s motorcycle. However, when Kumar returned, the CCTV footage showed the pillion rider’s seat unoccupied.

Cops became more suspicious when sleuths from Ghaziabad informed Delhi Police that it was Kumar who had first informed them about the body being spotted near Tronica City.

Kumar’s call details also indicated his location near the murder site. “In order to obscure his face from CCTV cameras, Kumar wore a helmet that was recovered from his home,” a police officer said.

Cops are also probing whether other family members were involved. They have detained Vanshika’s cousins, Sonu, Monu and Kuldeep, who had accompanied Kumar to the spot where they had spotted Vanshika’s body.



In Video: Delhi: Man kills 13-year-old daughter for talking to boy