34-yr-old interior designer held for rape, murder of Kovai minor

The police said Kumar had been living with his ailing grandmother for the last three months at a two-room house, located near the girl’s residence. On March 25, he forcefully took the girl, who was playing near her house, back to his rooms at 7 pm. When the girl tried to scream for help, he hit her hard on the head and later strangulated her.

Almost immediately after he committed the crime, Kumar’s grandmother passed away at 9 pm. “There is no foul play in her death, but Kumar hid the girl’s body in another room even as relatives came to offer condolences. In the wee hours of March 26, while everyone was asleep, Kumar disposed of the body by wrapping it in his t-shirt in an alley near the victim’s residence,” an officer said.

The Thudiyalur police had initially registered a case of murder. As autopsy revealed that the girl was raped, the case was transferred to Thudiyalur All Women’s Police. Fourteen special teams of police were formed to nab the culprits and six people had earlier been taken into custody. Kumar managed to initially evade arrest as his house had been swarming with relatives, but he was in the list of suspects.

The only evidence was the t-shirt. “We checked with more than 100 people, but none had seen anyone wearing it. In fact, Kumar had bought the t-shirt only a few days ago but did not wear it as it was smaller in size,” the officer added. After several rounds of investigation, Kumar finally confessed to the crime. He was married in 2015 but had separated from his wife.