Kerala minor murder case: Test Identification Parade of eyewitnesses ordered

A test identification parade of eyewitnesses has been ordered in the case in which a minor girl was raped and strangulated to death in Kerala's Ernakulam district. The police are waiting for a time to be confirmed by the Aluva magistrate.

Aluva (Rural) Superintendant of Police (SP), Vivek Kumar told ANI that the police have completed a background check on the accused Asafaq Alam, who hails from Bihar. The accused is a migrant worker from Sikati Police Station in Bihar's Arariya District and police said he does not have any criminal record.

The approach of the Police is to collect maximum eye-witness statements to strengthen the case. They will identify the accused through Test Identification Parade. According to police, they will try maximum to file the charge sheet within 20 days but delays are expected from chemical labs and post-mortem reports.

A Special Investigation Team of the Kerala Police will go to Bihar within three to four days, the Aluva SP said. The body of a 5-year-old girl the daughter of migrant workers from Bihar, was found murdered and sexually abused with several gruesome injuries at a dumping area at the Aluva market along the Periyar River on Saturday.

The girl was kidnapped from near their house at Choornikkara in Aluva in broad daylight on July 28. The accused who has been arrested, has been identified as Asafaq Alam (29) from Bihar.

"An FIR was lodged around 7 pm. Aluva Police arrested him in an inebriated state. He was misleading the interrogation by giving false statements and he denied his knowledge of this girl as well. But the interrogation based on CCTV visuals led him to confess to crime on Saturday early morning," Aluva Rural SP Vivek Kumar said.