Four days after the suspicious death of an 11-year-old girl, the Madurai city police arrested her adoptive parents – a 48-year-old ex-serviceman and his wife – for the rape and murder of the child.
The sexual assault and murder came to light after post-mortem examination. The girl was reported dead under suspicious circumstances on Mar 21.
According to police, the woman was the aunt of the deceased 11-year-old girl and her brother.
[adinserter name="One"] [adinserter name="Two"]The children’s mother passed away in 2014 due to illness, and the child was only six-month-old at that time.
Their father too deserted them. It was the children’s aunt and her ex-serviceman husband, an army subedar, who took care of the children and raised them as adoptive parents. The girl’s elder brother, meanwhile, had also died a few months ago after he accidentally drowned in a pond in Madurai while bathing.
[adinserter name="Three"] [adinserter name="Four"]The 11-year-old girl, who was studying Class V at a school in Madurai, was hence living alone with the couple.
On Mar 21, the girl was brought to a hospital with her parents claiming that she was found lying unconscious in the house. She was declared brought-dead. Initially, the Koodal Pudur police registered a case of suspicious death. However, the post-mortem examination revealed that the girl had been sexually assaulted and murdered.
[adinserter name="Five"] [adinserter name="Six"]During interrogation, the couple said the 48-year-old army subedar had sexually assaulted his 11-year-old adoptive daughter and then strangled her to death inside the bathroom. Later, he and his wife tried to cover up the crime by claiming that the girl had suddenly fainted and needed medical help.
Both the 48-year-old ex-serviceman and his wife were booked under Sections 201 and 302 of the IPC, and Sections 16, 17, 5 (j) (iv), 5 (l) (m) (n), 6 of the POCSO Act, including for murder, destroying evidence, as well as for sexual assault and its concealment/abetment.
They were remanded in judicial custody.
[adinserter name="Seven"] [adinserter name="Eight"]
