A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly strangulating a minor girl after her parents objected to his "indecent acts" with his live-in partner in the neighbourhood in northwest Delhi's Swaroop Nagar, police said Monday.
The girl, aged around eight, had gone missing on November 15 and her body was found the next day with her undergarment wrapped around her neck, they said.
They will receive the post-mortem report on Tuesday which will in help ascertaining if she had been sexually assaulted.
After the incident, it was found that the accused was missing from his house. Police started looking out for him, but he managed to keep them at bay.
Acting on a tip-off, the accused was nabbed from a night shelter at Pul Mithai on Monday, police said.
He had been hiding in various night shelters in north and outer Delhi after the incident, they said.
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During interrogation, the man told police he had a fight with the girl's parents 10-15 days before he killed the minor and was nursing a grudge.
"He said the girl's parents had accused him of indulging in indecency with his live-in partner which caused embarrassment to them. The girl's father also rebuked him for visiting their house and also called him immoral," said a senior police officer.
After the argument, the fights also happened over small issues and they never reconciled.
On November 15, he saw the girl standing outside her house and took her with him on the pretext of buying her some goodies and strangulated her with her undergarment, the officer said.
The accused denied that he sexually assaulted the girl but the post-mortem report will conclusively establish that fact, the officer, said, adding that he was unemployed and has been previously arrested in 12-13 cases of thefts by police.