A man lured a seven-year-old girl at the Tandur Government Hospital by promising her snacks and then sexually assaulted her. The incident occurred in Vikarabad district on Saturday.
Later at night sanitary staff found the girl and the suspect and informed the police. However, the suspect managed to flee leaving the girl. The girl is now undergoing treatment and is critical.
Police said the girl, a Class II student, had lost both her parents five years ago and was staying with her 60-year-old grandmother at Yalmakanne village in Vikarabad district.
As the old woman was ill, she came to Tandur Government Hospital with the girl on Saturday. As she was waiting for her turn to meet the doctor, the man approached the girl and offered to buy her snacks.
The woman, who thought that he had come with some other patient, agreed and sent the girl with him. The woman waited till night for the girl and the suspect. She got worried when they did not return and approached the
police.
As the police teams were searching for the girl and the suspect they informed sanitary staff who were cleaning roads at night.“Around 12 midnight, sanitary staffers found the girl and the suspect in the bus station area and intercepted him. When they questioned him, he said the girl was his daughter and that he was working in a nearby polishing unit. When they asked him more questions he left the girl and fled,” Tandur inspector M. Venkataramaiah said.
There were police teams at the bus station when the sanitary staff found the girl but before they could be informed the suspect fled. Police shifted the girl to the Tandur Government Hospital where doctors confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.
She is now in hospital. The sanitary staff said the suspect is aged around 30. The inspector said they are checking CCTV cameras near the bus station.
A rape case and under the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act was registered.