Hyderabad, Oct 11: An agricultural scientist’s five-year-old daughter was found murdered at a gated residential community in Secunderabad after being kidnapped on Saturday evening, with police suspecting the involvement of a former security guard.
The girl’s body was discovered in a water sump in the cellar of the residential community’s clubhouse in Kowkur, under Bollaram Police Station limits.
According to police, the child went missing while playing near her residence on Saturday evening. Her family members launched a search after she failed to return home.
The family subsequently received a phone call from a person demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh for the child's release. Although the family reportedly agreed to pay the amount, the caller later switched off his mobile phone.
Following a complaint from the girl's parents, police registered a case and launched an extensive search operation. The child's body was subsequently recovered from the clubhouse cellar.
Preliminary investigations and CCTV footage reportedly pointed to the involvement of a former security guard, identified as Vikram. Investigators suspect that he had been following the child shortly before her disappearance.
Police have constituted 10 special teams to trace the suspect, whose mobile phone was reportedly last active near Secunderabad Railway Station before being switched off.
Several police teams conducted searches in the surrounding areas on Saturday night. Investigators also checked lodges and hotels near the railway station, while drone cameras were deployed to assist the search operation.
According to residents, Vikram had been dismissed from his job at the residential community two days earlier following complaints about his behaviour.
Some residents alleged that the crime could have been motivated by revenge, as the girl's grandfather was reportedly involved in the committee's decision to dismiss the security guard. However, police have yet to establish whether the dismissal had any connection with the kidnapping and murder.
Investigators are examining CCTV recordings, mobile phone information and other available evidence to reconstruct the sequence of events and determine the motive behind the crime.
The incident has left residents of the gated community and surrounding areas deeply shocked. Residents have demanded the immediate arrest of the suspect and stringent punishment for those responsible.
Police are continuing their efforts to apprehend the suspect and establish the full circumstances surrounding the child's death.
Five-year-old girl kidnapped, killed in Hyderabad; police search for sacked security guard
