Chennai: Paedophile neighbour held for killing 7-year-old girl
Preliminary investigations revealed Tashvanth lured the girl with his pet dog to his second floor apartment where he sexually assaulted the child.
Chennai: The missing case of a 7-year-old girl from her residence near Mangadu was closed Wednesday when her burnt mortal remnants were recovered near Anakaputhur where her corpse was disposed of by her neighbour who sexually abused her before killing her.
The suspect-cum-neighbour is identified as S. Tashvanth (22), working in an IT firm. In fact, he had contacted the Police Control Room and reported the missing case pretending that he was very concerned about it.
Preliminary investigations revealed Tashvanth lured the girl with his pet dog to his second floor apartment where he sexually assaulted the child. He then gagged her, killing her in the process. Using petrol, he burnt her body in the bushes by the roadside in Anakaputhur.
On Sunday evening, the girl went missing while she was playing alone in her apartment complex. Her parents who returned from the market with the girl’s younger brother preferred a formal complaint with Mangadu Police. A team led by Ambattur DCP R. Sudhakar was formed to crack the case.
Footage from surveillance cameras suggested the girl was last seen playing in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The needle of suspicion fell on Tashvanth who returned to the apartment on Sunday without the travel bag that he had left with.
Tashvanth’s alibi of attending a relative’s wedding on Sunday evening fell through since cops accounted for his presence at his residence at the same time. “He even gave interviews to news television channels on the missing child along with her parents. Tashvanth actively participated in the investigation imagining it might help him get away with the crime by tracking its progress. However, his involvement came to light during the sustained interrogation on Tuesday night.
He later showed us where he had disposed of the body. He was brought back to the apartment to brief the cops as to how the crime unfolded,” said a senior police official privy to the investigation.
He was living with his parents and his brother in the present apartment for the past 2 years, and is working in an IT firm in Mylapore. The deceased child was a Class II student of a private school in the vicinity and had moved into the apartment complex 6 months ago. He was booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.