VILLUPURAM: A fortnight after the mysterious disappearance of a 7-year-old girl in this district, a suspect has been detained and was currently being interrogated, police said on Tuesday.

The Crime Branch-CID (CB-CID) is probing the matter after the case was transferred from the local police.

The detained man was identified as Rajadurai from Parasanthangal area near Gingee and he was picked up based on suspicion.

The suspect was reportedly a repeat offender involved in assault cases. He had previously been jailed and police are probing if he abducted and sold the girl, they added.

The disappearance of the child near Gingee for the last 16 days has prompted frantic search by the police and relatives of the girl.

The child had celebrated her seventh birthday recently and has been missing since the subsequent day. She remains untraceable since October 11.

Five special teams have been formed and the search has been expanded across a 20 km radius.

Police said that there is a 90 per cent chance that the girl is alive and it is expected that she will be rescued soon.