gurgaon

Updated: Nov 21, 2018 09:19 IST

A week to the day a three-year-old girl’s unclad body was found in a room in Sector 66, the man accused of raping, torturing and bludgeoning her to death was arrested from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh after the Gurugram Police launched a massive manhunt, pressing into service 1,200 cops from across police stations and crime units for round-the-clock combing operations in Gwalior, Jhansi and Delhi.

The police on Tuesday said the accused man, 20-year-old accused Sunil Kumar, was a ‘serial killer’ and a paedophile, who confessed to sexually assaulting and murdering at least eight other minor girls in Gurugram, Delhi, Gwalior and Jhansi.

Raj Kumar, sub inspector (SI), crime branch Sector 39, said that during interrogation the accused man told the police that “shaunk” led him to commit the crimes.

Catching the accused was not easy as he had come to the city just weeks before the crime and was living with his sister and mother. Police said the first clue was received after a partial image of the accused man was captured in a CCTV set up at a multi-storey building opposite the crime spot in Guga Colony, Sector 66.

Also Read: 70 teams of 1,200 cops hunt for accused in Gurugram minor’s rape-murder case

The police questioned homeless people to zero in on the profile of the accused man. But the main lead was received after the relatives of the accused, who were detained by the police, mentioned certain common places in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which the accused visited often, SI Kumar said.

“The victim’s sister said that he ate mostly at community kitchens and langars and engaged in daily wage work. Other relatives mentioned a community in Gwalior and Magarpur village in Jhansi, where he often spent time,” SI Kumar said, adding that the police even set up community kitchens in the city to lure him in.

Working on this information, the police circulated his photograph at railway stations and coordinated with their counterparts in different states.

Soon, the city police received information that shortly after the incident, the accused had eaten at a community kitchen near a Gurudwara in Sadar and had slept in city’s Kamala Nehru Park. The police were informed that the following day, on November 12, he was seen at the Hanuman Mandir in Central Delhi, he ate a meal at the temple and spent the night under a flyover. On November 13, he boarded an overnight train from Hazrat Nizammudin railway station in Delhi to Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, and worked at a farm for two days.

He then reached Magarpur village in Jhansi to meet some acquaintances on November 16.

“Once the police received information that the accused was in Magarpur, two teams each left for Gwalior and Jhansi and were scouting bus stations and railway stations for possible leads,” SI Kumar said.

On Monday, around 2pm, the accused was arrested from the village near Bhairon Baba temple after police received a lead that the accused was eating at a bhandara there.

Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) crime, who headed the special investigative team (SIT) formed to nab the accused, said that the November 11 incident was the third rape and murder of a minor girl committed by the accused man in the city and he had evaded arrest in two similar incidents in Gurugram between November 2016 and January 2017.

Police said that they were verifying the criminal record of the accused man and had contacted local police in Delhi, Jhansi and Gwalior for similar cases registered in their jurisdictions.

DCP Kuhar announced commendation certificates and Rs 2 lakh cash reward for the crime branch from Sector 39 .