Delhi Horror: 'Waiting for police to recover child's remains'

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) The grandfather of a nine-year-old girl, who was kidnapped, raped, and killed, with her body dumped into a canal in north Delhi, expressed the family's anguish, saying that they were awaiting the police to recover the child's remains.

He said that the landlord, identified as Sanjeev Rana (52), a resident of outer north Delhi's Nangli Poona village was seen at a CCTV footage taking his daughter in a vehicle on December 12.

Rana was caught by the police, and he had confessed to the crime.

"Upon learning of the granddaughter's disappearance in the same locality, a complaint was filed. My son called the landlord, who claimed to be in Panipat but later arrived around 11 p.m," said the grandfather.

Rana, along with the distraught father, searched for the missing girl without success.

"I arrived the next day and discovered that CCTV footage were being checked which showed the girl in the landlord's vehicle. The landlord also confessed his crime to his family, prompting a confrontation, and later attempted suicide through a scooter accident but survived," he said.

The grandfather had spoken to his grand-daughter on the morning of December 12.

The girl's parents, who work in a paper company and stitching, had her brought back from school by her mother at 1 p.m.

"She went missing after a brief period when her mother returned to work. The family learned of her disappearance at around 6 p.m., and despite their grief, no one has come to offer support," he said.

Meanwhile, a search operation was underway at Delhi's Munak Canal to fish out the body of a nine-year-old girl. According to officials, an NDRF team of 26 personnel is also deployed for search operations.

Police officers said that the kidnapping of a girl, a resident of Nangli Poona village, was reported at Swaroop Nagar police station on December 12 evening.

Initially, an FIR under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered and a probe was initiated.

"While the search for the girl was going on, police scanned the CCTV footage and traced the accused, identified as Sanjeev Rana, 52, a resident of Nangli Poona.

"However, when the police team arrived to arrest him, it was revealed that the accused was admitted in a hospital at Rohini due to a serious traffic accident on December 15 and was unfit to make a statement," a senior police officer said.

Meanwhile, during further investigation, it was found that the girl sat in the vehicle of the accused from a street near her home on December 12 at around 2 p.m.

"On December 17 when he became fit for a statement, Rana confessed to abducting and killing the girl on December 12. As per initial confession, he dumped the body in Munak canal," said the official.

Following the admission, additional sections of the IPC and of the POCSO Act were added to the FIR.

Rana, after he was discharged from the hospital, was placed under arrest, and a search was launched for the victim's body, the official added.

Since December 17, five divers have been deputed to search for the body of the girl in the canal.

"Teams have also been formed to check his entire route from December 12 as per technical surveillance," said the official. Meanwhile, taking cognisance of the incident, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has also issued a notice to Delhi Police seeking details of the case.

"It has been reported that the family's landlord allegedly abducted, raped and killed the minor girl. It has been stated that the accused later dumped her body in the Munak canal. This is a very serious matter," the DCW said in its notice while asking the police to submit details of the case by Friday.

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