As the accused in the abduction and rape of a five-year-old migrant girl in Aluva was found guilty by a court on Saturday, it was a feather in the cap of the Ernakulam Rural police who wrapped up investigation into the case in record time.
It was on July 28 afternoon that the child went missing from her family’s rented apartment in Choornikkara panchayat near Aluva town. The accused Asafaq Alam, 29, of Bihar was nabbed by the police late in the evening. The child’s body was found dumped covered in waste in a shrubby, abandoned spot in Aluva market the next morning. It soon emerged that she was sexually assaulted and murdered.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed by the District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) Vivek Kumar to probe the case on a war footing. A board marking the days since the launch of the investigation was also put up at the police headquarters in Aluva.
The team filed a 645-page chargesheet within 33 days of the incident. They banked on circumstantial evidence, cyber and forensic evidence, expert opinions of doctors, and medical reports for drawing up the chargesheet. The chargesheet had the statements of over 40 witnesses, 95 documents, and detailed references to material objects such as footwear and cloth.
The investigation took the SIT to Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal for collecting critical information about the accused and which found mention in the chargesheet. It emerged that the accused had a case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against him in Delhi.
Efforts were made to ensure the maximum punishment for the accused. He was slapped with 16 charges, including those of murder, abduction, rape, and unnatural sex.
Witnesses who saw the accused taking the victim with him, CCTV footage, DNA of the accused collected from the body and cloth of the victim, and the dress of the victim recovered from the crime scene also proved critical in the case.
The 30-member police team was led by DySP A. Prasad and inspector M.M. Manjudas.
