A neighbour has been arrested for the murder of a minor girl and a robbery at her house reported on Monday in Khayala, the said police on Thursday.

The police said that the PCR received a call around 9.30 p.m. on Monday regarding the murder of a minor girl at Delhi’s Vishnu Garden. The 16-year-old victim, Pooja, was found lying in a pool of blood with a stab injury on her throat. The victim’s father owns a vegetable shop at Khayala Subzi Mandi.

The family told the police that on Monday, their younger daughter Pooja and his 12-year-old son were present at home, while their parents were at their shop. Deepak came to his father around 8.30 p.m. and informed that Pooja has been killed by some unknown person.

During investigation, it was found that the entry of the accused was friendly. Even after interrogating all the family members, the police got no lead in the case. After the CCTV footage was analysed and a local enquiry was conducted, the police zeroed in on one Parvinder Singh, a neighbour of the deceased. He had been seen loitering outside deceased’s house several times, they said.

“Parviner confessed to having been involved in the crime. A bloodstained knife used in the commission of crime was recovered at his instance. A pair of bloodstained plastic gloves and the robbed jewellery and cash were also recovered,” said Monika Bhardwaj, DCP (West).

The accused also revealed that the family members of deceased were on good terms with him and he also used to visit the house. He said that around a week ago he was in their house, when he saw Sukho Devi, the mother of deceased, keeping a bag filled with jewellery inside the almirah. He said he had immediately started planning to steal the jewellery as he was in a dire need of money.

The accused entered the victim’s house on Monday around 7 p.m. after making sure that none but the girl was at home at the time. Pooja was in another room when he started stealing the jewellery from the almirah. However, she spotted him soon after and protested.

Frightened, the accused strangled her with a nylon rope. In order to make sure she died, he also slit her throat with a knife and fled with jewellery, cash, the bloodstained knife along with other articles.

Ms. Bhardwaj said that the accused had purchased plastic gloves in order to conceal his fingerprints during the crime.

The accused also revealed that he got the entire idea from crime shows broadcast on the television. The accused had hidden the stolen booty on the terrace of his house.

“The accused used to come to the police station along with other family members during interrogation just to get updates in the case. The robbed articles were recovered from his house,” said Ms. Bhardwaj.