NEW DELHI: A pair of abandoned slippers and a gap in a broken stone wall leading into a forested ridge helped police crack the case of a 10-year-old girl’s sexual assault in central Delhi’s Prasad Nagar. The child was allegedly abducted, raped and left unconscious in the secluded area by an e-rickshaw driver.In the absence of a name or registration number, investigators said they relied entirely on the visual identification of a red e-ricks-haw with a white roof. TOI had earlier reported the incident, which took place on Jan 11, and the arrest made on Jan 14. Fresh details have since emerged about the investigation that led police to the suspect. The survivor has since been discharged following medical treatment and counselling.The investigation began on Jan 11, when the girl — who supports her family by selling flowers at traffic signals — was brought to a hospital with injuries. She told police she was lured by an e-rickshaw driver on the pretext of being offered tea and taken to a forest patch. Despite being disoriented, she recalled fragments of her surroundings—a “blue-painted room” and a “broken entry point”—providing police with their first lead.DCP (Central) Anant Mittal formed three teams to crack the case. They scanned a 20-sq-km radius, manually inspecting 22 locations with similar features and analyzing CCTV footage.The breakthrough came when police examined CCTV footage from Professor Ram Nath Vij Marg, which matched the details shared by the girl. On a deserted stretch of the ridge, officers found a broken stone wall leading to a small structure. The recovery of the girl’s slippers confirmed the crime scene, allowing forensic teams to reconstruct the route taken by the accused between 11 pm and 1 am.“Alongside the ground search, a second team scanned footage from over 100 CCTV cameras. A key lead emerged when a camera recorded a red e-rickshaw with a white roof carrying the minor. Based on this visual, a third team searched e-rickshaw stands in Karol Bagh and Rajendra Place,” a senior officer said.Photographs of suspected drivers were circulated among investigators until the vehicle was traced near a petrol pump in Rajendra Place. Police later spotted a man matching the victim’s description approaching the vehicle. He attempted to flee on noticing the police presence but was chased down and apprehended.The suspect, identified as Durgesh, 25, from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, later led police to the recovery of blood-stained clothes.
