A five-year-old girl who went missing from a gated residential complex in Hyderabad was found dead in an open sump in the clubhouse cellar, after her grandfather and father received calls demanding a Rs 20 lakh ransom, police said on Sunday.
The girl had gone out to play inside the residential colony on Saturday evening, according to a police official quoted by PTI. At about 7.45 pm, her grandfather received a call from a person demanding the ransom and asking him to come to Trimulgherry to take her back. Her father later received a similar call, the official said.
Family members searched for the child within the gated community villas before approaching the police. Officers subsequently searched the premises and found her body at around 1.30 am on Sunday in an open sump located in the clubhouse cellar in the Kowkoor area, police said.
A watchman employed at the apartment complex, who is currently absconding, is suspected of being involved in the kidnapping and murder, the police official said, citing the preliminary investigation. The statement identifies the watchman as a suspect, but does not establish his guilt. Police teams have been formed to trace and apprehend him.
The case was registered at Bollarum police station. Police have not disclosed the identity of the child or provided further details about the circumstances in which she was taken from the residential complex.
The incident places the security systems of gated housing communities under immediate scrutiny. Such complexes typically depend on a combination of guards, visitor registers, access points and internal supervision, but the report does not establish whether any particular security measure failed in this case. It also does not state how the child entered the clubhouse cellar or whether the sump was secured.
The reported involvement of an employee, if established by the investigation, would also raise questions about staff verification, contractor oversight and the monitoring of workers who have access to residential premises. These issues are relevant to apartment associations and facility managers, although police have not yet announced any findings on the complex’s security arrangements.
The ransom calls added a second dimension to the investigation, with demands made separately to the girl’s grandfather and father. Police have not said whether the calls were traced, whether any ransom was paid, or how the caller obtained information about the family.
The immediate official next step is the apprehension of the absconding watchman and the continuation of the investigation by Bollarum police. Further details about the sequence of events, the security arrangements at the complex and the evidence collected are expected to emerge as the investigation proceeds.
