The accused was reported to have died after a police encounter in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, around midnight on Sunday, due to the gruesome incident surrounding the rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl committed as a part of domestic violence. The encounter came near the Banthla Canal Cut area on Sunday, which ended a weeklong manhunt by the police.
The suspect, known as Jaseem alias Chhotu, was the victim’s maternal uncle. The incident, police officials said, took place on April 11 when the young girl was reported missing from her house in the Tila Mod locality. Her parents, who were daily wage labourers, were out of the home when the child was at risk.
Investigations also turned up details of how Jaseem had lured the girl, promising her food as part of a plan to take her to a room he had rented, in which he lived for about a month. There, it was said, he sexually assaulted the girl and later strangled her to death.
Later, the body was recovered from near a parked car. In a subsequent incident, the police responded quickly, and a formal First Information Report (FIR) within Sections 103(1), 65(2), and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered. Following the crime, a special team was set up to hunt down the accused who had fled.
Authorities also said they would ask for ₹50,000 from anyone who provided information that might help arrest him. Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhawal Jaiswal said the accused was spotted early on in the investigation and deemed wanted. Responding to specific intelligence, cops discovered him near the Banthla Canal Cut late Sunday night.
Officers reportedly shot at Jaseem when they tried to approach him. Police fired back, with gunfire exchanged in the process. The accused, as it happened, had been shot during the encounter and rushed to a local hospital, where doctors said he was dead. The operation posed risks; two police constables were also injured during the procedure.
They were dispatched straight away for medical care and said to be out of harm’s way. The police seized illegal firearms and cartridges from the accused on the scene. Moreover, on scene, it was disclosed that Jaseem had a previous criminal record and originated from the Muzaffarnagar region in Uttar Pradesh. Although the leader of the raid has already been put down, the police reportedly claimed two of his associates fled during the encounter.
Tries are underway to track them down and arrest them. The case has shed fresh light on child crime and the urgency of needing additional systems of protection now. This was enough to transform public anger and give a different kind of emotion to this case, its very cold cruelty, the very brutal nature of what had happened.
The Uttar Pradesh Police, however, celebrated these operations with a reward of ₹50,000 for the SWAT team involved. The authorities confirmed the probe would continue and said that all linked to the murder would be brought to justice.
