CHENNAI: A three-year-old girl died on Monday after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man at Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district.
The public chased and nabbed the accused, a guest worker from Bihar, and handed him over to the police, who arrested him.
Meanwhile, after media reports quoted local residents alleging that the child was gang raped by four people, the district police issued a denial, stating that the claims were not true.
The child's parents are employed at a steel company in the SIPCOT industrial estate in Gummidipoondi. The accused, a native of Bihar, was employed at the same firm along with the girl's father and lived in their neighbourhood, according to the police.
On Sunday night, the girl was playing with other children outside her house when the accused took her to a nearby shop on the pretext of buying her snacks and assaulted her at a secluded spot around 8 pm.
An onlooker who stumbled upon the assault raised an alarm after which the public gathered. The suspect had tried to flee, but was chased and caught by the public and handed over to the police.
The child was rescued and admitted to the government hospital at Kottakarai before being shifted to the Government Stanley Hospital in Chennai, where she succumbed early on Monday morning.
Further investigations are under way.
After several residents from the neighbourhood claimed that it was a case of gang rape and alleged that four people were involved, the Tiruvallur district police denied the claim.
According to a statement from the district police, their preliminary investigation has found that only one person was involved in the rape and murder of the child, and added that the accused was in custody. Both the child and the accused are from Bihar, the police statement said, urging the public not to spread such information.