The family of the nine-year-old girl, who was found raped and murdered in a slum in Juhu, on Sunday demanded death penalty for the arrested accused, Vadivel alias Gundappa Chintambi Devendra, 31.

“I want him hanged. I will not perform her last rites till I am convinced that he (accused) will be given death punishment,” said the girl’s mother, 29. The girl went missing around 6.30pm on Thursday, when her mother sent her out on an errand. “We went to the Juhu police station at 7.30pm, but the officials came to our house, which is 50m from the police station, only around 11.30pm,” she said.

According to Juhu police, the CCTV footage shows Devendra taking the girl inside his house. He raped and murdered her in the evening, but waited till 3am to dump her body in a gutter a few metres away, said police.

The girl’s mother recollected that she saw Devendra staring at her daughter on her birthday on March 17. The girl was dressed up and taken to her grandmother’s house, which is near Devendra’s house.

The woman knew he was a sex offender, but did not think he would target her daughter. The girl’s family claimed that after Devendra’s arrest, his family threatened them of revenge for falsely implicating him.

“Devendra’s family supplies electricity and water to the slum illegally. He is a history-sheeter. We told the police that they may attack us. We are collecting signatures of all residents to get him to leave the slum. Political party leaders are coming to meet us now, but none of them helped when we were running from pillar to post to find her,” the girl’s grandfather said.

The Juhu police said the post-mortem report has confirmed rape. They have added IPC section 377 (unnatural offences) in the FIR, the police said.

Devendra has three cases against him and preventive action was taken against him in the past. He also was convicted and imprisoned for raping a five-year-old girl in 2013 and was released from jail six months ago.

First Published: Apr 08, 2019 00:24 IST