Doctors examined her and said she had also suffered injuries in her private parts, and confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. She had vaginal tears and was in shock. Representation image
A five-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the early hours on Saturday, and was found with head injuries and a broken finger. Police have arrested Veeresha, a rag picker, for the outrage.
A resident of a building in KG Halli came down when he heard the sound of glass shattering, and chanced upon the girl. She was lying unconscious. He called the police. It turned out someone had broken the windshield of a parked car.
The girl was found 150 metres from a row of makeshift housing sheds at the Vyalikaval Society construction site in K G Halli. The Hoysala patrol reached the spot and rushed the girl to Bowring Hospital. Initially, police assumed she had suffered head injuries in a road accident.
Doctors examined her and said she had also suffered injuries in her private parts, and confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. She had vaginal tears and was in shock.
Meanwhile, the girl’s parents, construction workers from north Karnataka, had begun to look for her. The girl’s mother had seen her step out to urinate, and had fallen asleep, assuming she had come back.
The girl’s ring finger was broken during the brutal assault.“Multi-speciality treatment, including neurosurgery, will be performed on her,” said
Dr Manjunath of Bowring Hospital.Bengaluru Development Minister K J George visited the hospital and promised support for her treatment.Terming the assault “a heinous crime,” he said the perpetrator would be punished severely.
Police refused to allow the media to interact with the victim’s parents, citing privacy. About 12 hours after the crime was reported, KG Halli police arrested Veeresha (24), a ragpicker and resident of Veerannapalya in KG Halli. He is a native of Kondlahalli village in Molkalmur taluk of Chitradurga district.
Hemant Nimbalkar, additional commissioner of police, told reporters Veeresha had been roaming around when he saw the girl coming out of her hut. “He lifted her and took her behind a bush and committed the rape,” he said.
3 teams crack case
Soon after the incident came to light, the city police formed three teams.
One of them examined CCTV footage from the car park of a private college. There, they found a man carrying the child behind a bush. Police showed the footage to the girl’s parents and they identified him as Veeresha, also a resident of their makeshift colony.
A team picked him up from his shed and interrogated him. He purportedly confessed and said he was drunk when he committed the crime.
Horror in the dead of night
2 am: 5-year-old steps out of hut to urinate
2.15 am: Man carries her away, commits crime
3 am: Neighbour spots her, calls police
3.15 am: Hoysala takes her to Bowring Hospital
3.30 am: Doctors say she is sexually assaulted
5 am: Her mother begins searching for her
u 6 am: Police take mother to victim
u 2 pm: They track down ragpicker, arrest him