The accused in the Saidabad rape case, where a six-year-old child was raped and murdered on September 9, was found dead at Station Ghanapur in Telangana. Speaking to TNM, Hyderabad East Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ramesh said, “It is true that the accused has died. The three tattoos matched with the identification details we had. His family has also confirmed the same."
Explaining the timeline of events, Warangal Commissioner Tarun Joshi said, “At around 9:58 am, Station Ghanpur police received a call regarding an unidentified person found dead on the railway track. Immediately, an SI along with his team visited the spot. As police were already on the lookout for the accused, we had all details about the accused’s identification marks, clothes etc. Based on the comparison of details we identified the body to be that of the rape accused Raju. The information was provided by a railway employee who was working on the railway track.”
According to the police, an eye witness informed the police that he found this man walking on the track. When asked to move away from the track he began running and meanwhile a train, Konark Express, heading towards Hyderabad hit him and he died on the spot. “The body was identified by his family members and a case was registered by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and his body has been shifted,” the Commissioner added.
The accused, who was identified as a 30-year-old man named Raju, was absconding since the incident was reported. The police had constituted as many as nine special teams to arrest him. On September 14, the Hyderabad police had issued a notice to the public with details of the physical appearance of the accused, and appealed to anyone with information on him to come forward to the police, along with a reward of Rs 10 lakh for reliable information which may have led to his arrest.
#AttentionPlease : The accused of "Child Sexual Molestation and murder @ Singareni Colony, found dead on the railway track, in the limits of #StationGhanpurPoliceStation.
— DGP TELANGANA POLICE (@TelanganaDGP) September 16, 2021
Declared after the verification of identification marks on deceased body. pic.twitter.com/qCPLG9dCCE
Just been informed by @TelanganaDGP Garu that the beast who raped the child has been traced & found dead on a railway track at station Ghanpur#JusticeForChaithra https://t.co/TCx2BHvVhG
— KTR (@KTRTRS) September 16, 2021
Several teams comprising hundreds of policemen were engaged in search operations in the limits of three police commissionerates, Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda. A day after announcing the Rs 10 lakh reward, police released wanted posters with his pictures on September 15. Police personnel were seen pasting posters on walls, buses and auto-rickshaws. Some explained to citizens about how the accused looks.
Police had also taken up vehicle checking on the state borders to stop him from fleeing to neighbouring states.The six-year-old was sexually assaulted and murdered on September 9 in Singareni Colony of Saidabad area. The body of the girl was found in his house after midnight. The crime had sparked massive outrage across the city and the state, with many, including sitting state ministers, demanding that the accused be ‘encountered’ like the accused in the Disha case that had taken place in Hyderabad last year. On November 28, 2020, a veterinary doctor was kidnapped and gang-raped, and later murdered in Hyderabad. The perpetrators then dumped her body on the outskirts of the city and burnt it. As the incident triggered massive protests, the police later said that the accused died in an encounter after they attempted to flee during reconstruction of the crime scene. However, several people have accused the police of carrying out an extra-judicial killing.
With pressure mounting on the state government to nab the accused, the Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy was personally monitoring the case. He directed the Police Commissioners to intensify the search operation. Personnel of the Commissioner's Task Force and the Special Operation Team (SOT) were also roped in for the massive search operations.
The accused was seen in CCTV footage in LB Nagar area a day after the crime was reported.
Telangana Labour Minister on Tuesday, September 14, suggested that the accused in the case be killed in an encounter, similar to that of the Disha case-accused. "We will definitely arrest him and will do the encounter," he had told reporters. Several politicians such as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president MP Revanth Reddy, Congress leader MLA Seethakka, former IPS and BSP coordinator Praven Kumar Rao, and Telangana Information Technology (IT) Minister KT Rama Rao visited the family in the last few days, demanding justice for them. On Thursday, September 16, Satyavathi Rathod, state Woman and Child Welfare Minister, and Mahmud Ali, state Home Minister also visited the family and handed over a cheque of Rs 20 lakh on behalf of the Telangana government.