I am being threatened, says dad of 4-yr-old rape and murder victim

Nearly two weeks after an ex-serviceman was arrested for alleged rape and murder of a four-and a-half-year-old girl along with his wife for helping him to conceal the crime in Tirumullaivoyal, the victim’s father submitted a petition at city police Commissionerate on Wednesday as the accused’s son is threatening them not to depose against his father.

Speaking to the media, the victim’s father said, “The accused’s son he took away all the belongings from their house in two suitcases last week, a few days after they were arrested. He also threatened me not to say anything against his father to police or in the court.” After the girl’s father informed the NGOs, who help in prosecution, about the incident, they advised him to submit a petition to the Commissioner.

Kanya Devi Chokakula, coordinator All India Movement for Service (AIMS), who accompanied the girl’s father on Wednesday, said that the ex-serviceman could be a paedophile and might have targeted a few other children in the neighbourhood.

The accused’s son, who works at a courier firm, also visited the Commissionerate around the same time when the child’s father was there and was waiting along with him at the grievance hall. In a petition, he has accused child’s father and his relatives for looting and ransacking his house soon after the arrest of his parents.

The Tirumullaivoyal police arrested 60-year-old ex-serviceman on the charges of rape and murder of four-year-old neighbour girl and his wife for abetting him in concealing the murder on June 28.

The victim’s family stayed in a rented house. Her house and the accused’s residence are on either sides of a wall. On the day of the incident, he took the girl to his house when her mother was away to drop her elder son at a private tuition centre. When she returned, she found her daughter missing and lodged a complaint at Tirumullaivoyal police station. Later, she found her daughter’s body dumped in the bathroom. During investigation, police found out that the accused took the victim to his house and raped her before strangulating her to death.