Teenaged neighbour held for strangling two-year-old girl in Kalyanpuri

A two-year-old girl, who was found dead in East Delhi last week, and suspected to have been raped before being killed, allegedly lost her life at the hands of teenaged neighbour, who wanted to teach her mother a lesson, the police claimed on Wednesday.

Ajay Kumar, DCP (East), said the victim had been murdered by the 15-year-old girl who wanted to avenge an insult meted out to her by the victim’s mother, who had accused her of theft on June 6.

“The accused, who is a minor and a student of Class XI , was apprehended after the child went missing from her house in Kalyanpuri on June 10, and was found dead with her body wrapped in a plastic bag three days later,” said Mr. Kumar.

During questioning, Mr. Kumar said, the accused neighbour told her interrogators that she was furious for being blamed of theft by the victim’s mother and she was looking for an opportunity to seek revenge.

The teenager, who stays near the victim’s residence, spotted the latter playing outside her house in Kalyanpuri’s Block-20 around 1 p.m. on June 10.

Half an hour later, her mother noticed that the child was missing. She went out looking for her and approached the police when she failed to find her.

A case of kidnapping was registered at the local police station. On June 13, her body was recovered wrapped in a plastic bag with a cloth tied around the neck.

After questioning of the area’s local criminals and technical surveillance bore no fruit, the investigating team came to the conclusion that the child’s neighbours could be involved in the incident.

“We focused on the neighbours and soon zeroed in on the teenager. She initially tried to mislead us, but during counter questioning, failed to maintain her initial statement and finally confessed to having killed the child to avenge the insult her mother had subjected her to,” Mr. Kumar said.

“One of the residents of the locality had also tipped us off about the fact that the sound of a child could be heard emanating from the house of the accused teenager even as the victim’s mother was engaged in frantically looking for her,” Mr. Kumar added.

The teenager said she had abducted the child, strangled her, stuffed her body in a plastic bag to conceal her identity, and dumped it in the Sanjay Jheel.

The Class XI student was furious for being blamed for theft by victim’s mother and was looking for an opportunity to seek revenge, say police