What autopsy found after 7-year-old was raped, murdered in Ghaziabad mall

GHAZIABAD: The seven-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered inside an under-construction mall in Ghaziabad suffered more than 25 injury marks on her body, including 17 on her head, according to the autopsy report. Doctors also found two fractures on her left leg, police said.The child was allegedly assaulted with an iron rod before her body was thrown into an empty shaft from the third floor of the under-construction mall in Raj Nagar Extension, police said. Two labourers — 18-year-old Vinay Kumar and 22-year-old Sahibuddin — have been arrested in connection with the crime.Police said Vinay, who often played with the girl and her brothers and gave them chips and toffees, allegedly lured her into the mall on Friday evening along with Sahibuddin with an offer of snacks and a soft drink.Both accused were produced before a court on Sunday and sent to judicial custody. Police initially believed Vinay was a minor when he was detained on Saturday but later confirmed that he was 18 years old.According to investigators, Vinay, a resident of Bettiah in Bihar, and Sahibuddin, from Khagaria, had been working at the mall for around two-and-a-half months.“Vinay used to play with the girl and her brothers and would give them toffees and chips,” a police officer said.CCTV footage helped police reconstruct the girl’s final moments. The footage showed the two accused entering the mall with the child through the main gate around 7.40 pm on Friday. A few hours later, they allegedly came out of the premises without her, said Dhawal Jaiswal, DCP (City and Trans-Hindon).A senior police officer said the crime appeared to have been planned. Police alleged that the accused first assaulted the girl, then raped her, and later Vinay attacked her with an iron rod. After they believed she had died, the duo allegedly carried her body to a staircase and threw it into the basement through a shaft.The girl had gone missing around 7.30 pm on Friday while playing with her brothers and other children near a slum settlement close to the mall. Her family searched for her but could not find her initially. Police were informed after her body was found in the basement at around 1.05 am on Saturday.The search operation inside the building took more than an hour as the mall was under construction and had no electricity. ACP Priyashree Pal told TOI that officers used mobile phone torches to navigate through the dark corridors.There was nothing on the first two floors. But on the third, I saw blood near the staircase. I followed the trail to a room where the walls and floor were spattered with bloodstains. That’s where I found her slippers, trousers, and the iron rod, stained red. It felt like something truly horrific had happened in that room. The bloodstains were everywhere,” ACP Priyashree Pal told TOI .Police said the two accused had been drinking before the crime. They had known each other since arriving from Bihar and stayed and drank together daily.(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)