Three-year-old dies after sexual assault in Tiruvallur; guest worker arrested

CHENNAI: A three-year-old girl child 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.

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 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.