In a brutal crime, a nine-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted, murdered and stuffed into a bag in Delhi on Saturday evening, June 7. The incident happened near northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur area. The accused, a 30-year-old neighbour, fled the spot after the incident, and the police are on the lookout for him.(Representational/Screengrab/X/@ANI)

The victim’s father told the media that the suitcase had been moving when he found it.

The accused, a 30-year-old neighbour, fled the spot after the incident, and the police are on the lookout for him.

The incident sparked protests in the area by the girl’s family and other locals on Sunday, leading to the deployment of security personnel to ensure law and order, said officials.

Also read: Delhi: 9-year-old sexually assaulted, killed, body stuffed in bag

What happened?

According to the family of the victim, who was a Class 5 student at a local government school, and the police, she had gone out of the house at around 7 pm to give ice to a relative who lives nearby. When she did not return home by 7.30 pm, the family reached out to their relative to ask for her whereabouts, only to find out that she never reached their home. The family then began looking for the girl.

“Nearly half an hour into the search, my 13-year-old niece informed me that a woman in the neighbourhood had seen my daughter going inside a six-storey building to deliver keys to a man living on the second floor,” said the girl’s father.

Also read: Delhi: Rape accused tried to lure other girls to his house, say locals

When they reached the second floor of that building and eventually broke open the door, they found a suitcase lying on the floor with the girl’s body stuffed inside. There were injury marks on her lips and face.

The girl was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead.

‘Suitcase was moving’

Describing the horrifying scene, the victim’s father said that he found the suitcase was “moving”, reported the Indian Express.

“I went there, and the door was locked. When I broke the lock, I found a suitcase that was moving. I opened it and found my daughter inside. I took her to a nursing home nearby. They asked me to take her to a bigger hospital,” the Indian Express report quoted the father as saying.

The father also informed that the girl was “partially undressed, and bleeding from her genitalia”. She was also unconscious and unresponsive. “We rushed her to a nearby nursing home, where doctors declared her dead. On examination, they found that she was sexually assaulted,” he said.

How the accused lured the victim

According to the victim’s family and the police, the accused, who lived on the second floor of the six-storey building, allegedly asked the girl to come upstairs to deliver his house keys, which had fallen on the road. According to locals and the girl’s family, the accused deliberately threw the keys to lure the girl.

Joint commissioner of police (east) Vijay Kumar said they were informed about the incident at 8.41 pm on Saturday, after which they reached the spot.

“Prima facie, doctors observed visible injuries on her face and alleged sexual assault,” he said. Police suspect that the girl died due to smothering or strangulation.

With inputs from Karn Pratap Singh.