A man accused of rape and murder of a six-year-old girl was arrested following an encounter by police in Rampur late on Saturday night. The accused was injured in cross firing and taken to hospital.

The police action came hours after the partly decomposed body of the girl was recovered from an abandoned house earlier in the morning. Superintendent of police (SP), Rampur Ajay Pal said, “We have arrested Nazil Ahmed, 30, for rape and murder of a minor girl. Nazil was arrested following an encounter. He has confessed to the crime and is currently in hospital.”

As per police , the child went missing from outside her house on May 7. On the complaint of her father, police lodged a report of kidnapping the next day. But the investigators failed to get any leads in the case and the investigation remained at a stand still. On Saturday, thanks to the efforts made by the family members of the missing girl, investigators found the partly decomposed body of the girl.

“The body was dumped in a secluded abandoned building. It was heavily decomposed but the family managed to identify her by the clothes,” said the SP. Following this, police formed three teams to track down the accused. “We identified a couple of criminals with the help of the victim’s family and zeroed in on Nazil who lives in the nearby Kanshiram Colony,” said the SP.

A special armed team was formed to search for him and found Nazil near a graveyard. “When our team tried to arrest him he opened fire. In retaliation, our team also fire back. Nazil was injured both legs in the cross fire and was arrested,” informed the SP. The officer later visited Nazil in hospital along with the investigation officer and Nazil confessed before them.

First Published: Jun 24, 2019 12:06 IST