From Our Correspondent
KHARKUTTA, July 24: In a major breakthrough on Thursday, the prime suspect in the case of kidnapping of a six-year-old girl from near her house near Kharkutta in North Garo Hills (NGH) was arrested through a joint effort of the district police and villagers of Mittegittim near Adokgre.
On July 18, the six-year-old, who was last seen outside of her house at about 11 am, was suspected to have been kidnapped leading to a wide search of the area from where she went missing.
The search involved personnel from the NGH police along with locals who are aware of the terrain but despite three days of search, the girl was still missing.
The area, from where the girl went missing is extremely dense in vegetation leading the difficulty in search and rescue operations.
The family had pointed to a well known suspect, who had a history of such cases as the person behind the kidnapping of the six-year-old, leading to even more frenetic searches being undertaken for both the victim and the suspect.
A manhunt for the suspect as well as the victim began with villagers around the area of the incident as well as the district police going through densely-forested areas with the assistance of drones and a K9 (canine) unit.
Disclosing the development, NGH Superintendent of Police Swapnil Pawar said, “The person suspected to be involved in the abduction of a missing minor girl from Kharkutta region, Sonjith Arengh, has been tracked down and apprehended by a police team from Adokgre police station with the help of people from Mittegittim.
“The suspect apparently was planning to flee the state and was taking temporary shelter in the village of Mittegittim. The suspect has been arrested despite there being no evidence of his role in the present case of the minor’s abduction.
Arengh is an accused in a 2017 POCSO case registered at Kharkutta police station. He was out on bail and was undergoing trial at the district court for the said offence.
Around four months back, he committed one more POCSO offence and absconded. In this case, the investigation was completed and an absconder charge-sheet was filed against him in the court.
“Apart from apprehension and interrogation of the said suspect, police teams along with K9 Unit from CID Shillong, drones and SRT as well as villagers are continuing the extensive search operation to search for the missing child,” stated Pawar.