3-year-old girl killed near Pune railway station, man arrested

A man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing a three-year-old girl on the premises of the Pune railway station, police said.

The accused was identified as Prathmesh Gaikwad (29).

Railway Protection Force personnels found the girl in unconscious state with a severe head injury and bite marks on the face in the railway yard on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

She succumbed to injuries a few hours later, after which the police registered a case of murder.

Probe found that her family lived in a shanty on the footpath near the railway station, said senior police inspector Sunil Tambe of Bundgarden police station.

"The girl's father and her uncle had had a fight with Gaikwad over some petty issue last week, and they had beaten him up. Gaikwad abducted the girl from the shanty yesterday and took her to the railway yard," he said.

He allegedly smashed her head on a railway coach before fleeing from the spot, the inspector said.

Police picked him up on Wednesday morning.

The autopsy report ruled out sexual assault, inspector Tambe said, adding that further probe was on.