Pune: Five-Year-Old Girl Lured With Sweets, Murdered; Police Detain Neighbour

Pimpri Chinchwad, 14th December 2025: A five-year-old girl was kidnapped and murdered in a disturbing incident reported from the Shirgaon–Parandwadi area of Maval tehsil in Pune district, Pimpri Chinchwad police said on Sunday. The crime took place on Saturday night, and the accused was taken into custody within hours following an intensive search and investigation.

Police suspect that the child may have been sexually assaulted, though officials said this will be confirmed only after forensic examination and postmortem findings.

A case has been registered at the Shirgaon Parandwadi Police Station under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate based on a complaint filed by the victim’s mother. The accused has been identified as Samir Kumar Mandal (32), a resident of Shirgaon and a native of Jharkhand. He has been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 137 (kidnapping) and Section 103 (murder), along with applicable provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

According to police, the child went missing on Saturday afternoon. When the family could not locate her by evening, her mother approached the police, following which a search operation was launched. Both the victim’s family and the accused lived in the same chawl, and Mandal was known to the child as a neighbour.

ACP Balasaheb Kopner, in charge of the Dehu Road division, said swift action was taken once the complaint was received. “After the mother reported the child missing, teams from the Shirgaon Police Station and the Crime Branch immediately began investigations. CCTV footage from the area was examined and several local residents were questioned, which helped us identify the suspect,” Kopner said.

He added that the accused was detained on Sunday morning and later confessed to the crime during interrogation. “The accused led the police to the spot where he had dumped the girl’s body, located around two kilometres from their residence. He told us that he took the child to that location on the pretext of offering her sweets,” Kopner told Free Press Journal.

On the possibility of sexual assault, the officer said conclusions would be drawn only after medical and forensic reports are received. “At this stage, nothing can be stated with certainty. The body has been sent for postmortem, and forensic analysis will clarify the sequence of events,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2) Vishal Gaikwad said the investigation is ongoing to establish the motive behind the crime. “A case has been registered and the accused has confessed. We are probing further to understand the circumstances and reasons that led to this incident,” Gaikwad said, adding that police are awaiting forensic results to confirm whether sexual assault took place.

Further investigation is underway.