Ex-security guard kills girl, hides body in water tank after ransom plan fails

A four-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a former security guard of a gated community in Hyderabad, who demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh from her family, police said on Monday.The accused, identified as Vikram Kumar, was arrested on October 11.The girl's body was found on Sunday inside a water sump in the clubhouse cellar of the gated community in Kowkoor. Police said Kumar had worked there as a security guard from September 22 to October 6.According to police, the girl's father and grandfather received calls on October 10 from an unidentified person who claimed that the child was in his custody and demanded Rs 20 lakh to hand her over. Based on a complaint by the girl's father, police registered a case and began an investigation into the suspected kidnapping. During the search operation, the child's body was found in the cellar, while the former guard, identified as Vikram Kumar, was found absconding and emerged as the main suspect. Kumar, a native of Nalanda district in Bihar, was caught on October 11."During interrogation, he confessed to committing the murder of the child as part of a premeditated plan to demand a ransom of Rs 20 lakh from her parents," Malkajgiri Police Commissioner B Sumathi told reporters. She said the accused had entered the gated community on October 10 with the intention of kidnapping the girl and extorting a large amount of money from her parents. However, after locating the girl, he allegedly realised that he would be unable to manage or control her while carrying out the kidnapping and ransom plan."Consequently, he decided to kill her and conceal the crime. After committing the murder, the accused concealed the child's body in an unused water sump located in the cellar, apparently choosing the spot because it was not frequented by the residents of the gated community, with the intention of avoiding detection," she said.Based on the preliminary investigation, police said the girl was killed by strangulation. Sumathi said, "There is no other motive (apart from demand of money). His idea was to kill the child and demand ransom. It was a very secluded place (cellar), no CCTV cameras were there." She also said Kumar used the SIM card of another security guard in the gated community to make the ransom calls to the family.Police said the investigation would be completed at the earliest and that the trial would be pursued before a Fast Track Court, with efforts to seek capital punishment for the accused. Sumathi said the incident had raised serious public concern and showed that gated communities cannot rely only on access control and security personnel for safety.She said residential security requires proper background verification of personnel, effective supervision, vigilant residents and close coordination between residential associations and the police.The Malkajgiri Police also urged RWAs, apartment associations and residents to take part in the 'Mee Suraksha – Domestic Helpers Verification Initiative' and 'Nenu Saitham 2.0 – CCTV Surveillance Programme', adding that awareness meetings were being held across residential communities.Police said the case began with a ransom demand after the child went missing on October 10 and ended with the arrest of a former security guard, who is accused of killing her, hiding the body in the gated community cellar and using another guard's SIM card to make the calls.- Ends