Aligarh police on Saturday claimed to have arrested two more people, including a woman, in connection with the brutal murder of a toddler in Tappal township of the district.
The family of the victim had been insisting that more than two persons were involved in the brutal killing of their daughter whose decomposed body was found in a garbage dump around 200 metres from their home. The body was found on June 2, three days after the girl was reported missing.
Interestingly, after media reports, the police on Saturday also confirmed that one of the men booked earlier for the brutal murder of the toddler was an alleged sex offender who had targeted children in recent years.
Reports said that Shagufta (32) and Mehndi Hasan, the wife and brother of Zahid, one of the two main accused, were picked up on Saturday morning by the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the killing of the two-and-half-year-old girl in Tappal township.
“They were later arrested,” a senior police official said.
After the fresh arrests, the total number of people held in the case has gone up to four.
Other than 27-year-old Zahid, police arrested Aslam, 43, on Tuesday after the girl’s decomposed body was found in the garbage dump near her home.
The girl’s father had alleged that she was killed because he failed to repay Rs 10,000 he had taken as loan from the accused.
Aslam was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in 2014 and 2017, police said. He also faced charges under Uttar Pradesh’s Goonda Act.
The second POCSO case, in Delhi’s Gokulpuri, also involved the abduction of a minor.
Senior Superintendent of Police of Aligarh, Akash Kulhari, confirmed that one of the two accused had a criminal history, that two separate cases of POCSO were pending against him and he had gone to jail in connection with an abduction case in Delhi.
Kulhari said officials probing the Aligarh case were looking into the phone records of all suspects.
“The police are in the process of building a water-tight case against the accused so that it stands all legal scrutiny and speedy justice is delivered through a fast-track court. We are checking phone records of all suspects to trace the crime trail,” he said.
Kulhari, who camped in the area till late Friday, warned mischief mongers that stern action would be taken if they tried to spread rumours through social media.
Tension had prevailed in the area after the victim’s family alleged that police officials delayed the registration of their complaint and the investigation. Five policemen have been suspended for negligence and Kulhari had on Friday assured the locals that justice would be done in the case.
The SSP reiterated that the post-mortem by a panel of three doctors found “no evidence of sexual assault” but police were taking no chances and forensic experts were examining vaginal swabs for any further evidence.
The incident has triggered massive outrage. Political leaders and celebrities have tweeted their angst and disgust over the crime as Aligarh city witnessed candlelight protests over the murder. Teachers and students of Aligarh Muslim University have demanded “exemplary and prompt” punishment for the perpetrators.
At a special meeting of its executive, the AMU Teachers’ Association demanded that a fast-track court be immediately set up to try the case.
AMUTA secretary Nazmul Hasan said in a press release that the teachers of the university stood by the victim’s family.
Former president of AMU Students’ Union, Faizul Hasan, said the law should be amended so that convicts of such crime faced “punishment as stringent as that in Saudi Arabia”.
ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar had said on Friday, “As of now, sexual assault is not ruled out. Vaginal swabs have been sent for forensic examination.”
Meanwhile, leaders of Uttar Pradesh Congress also took out a candlelight march in Lucknow on Saturday evening to pray for peace of the departed soul and demand stern action against all those involved in the inhuman killing.