Security guard arrested for sexual assault, murder of minor girl

A day after the body of a minorgirl was recovered from the staircase of a residentialbuilding in Jorabagan area of the city, the police arrested asecurity guard on charges of having sexually assaulted andmurdered her, a senior police officer said.

The man in his mid-40s, who works as a security guardof a building in the area, was booked under the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and relevantsections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

''He was arrested on the basis of scientific evidencegathered by the forensic team from the staircase from wherethe body of the nine-year-old girl was recovered,'' the policeofficer said.

Sleuths of Kolkata Police had picked up the man, aresident of Jharkhand, on Thursday night and after a night-long grilling he admitted to his crime, the officer said.

The accused used to watch child pornography on hissmartphone, the police found out.

''He was fully drunk on that evening when he alluredthe girl with chocolates, food and sexually abused her. Hethen strangled her to death. To ensure that she was dead, theman slit her throat with a knife,'' the officer said.

The sleuths had spotted a couple of teeth and a fewhair strands on the staircase where the girl's body was found.

A blood-stained knife, suspected to be the murderweapon, was found from a drain, just beside the multi-storeybuilding, the senior officer said.

The victim, a resident of Sovabazar in the same policestation area, was visiting her maternal uncle's residence inJorabagan in the northern part of the city.

The family had approached the police when the girlwent missing on Wednesday evening.