Ghaziabad: A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly pushing a 15-year-old girl to her death from a fourth-floor balcony of a building in Kaushambi, where he lived, on Friday after police registered an FIR on murder charges.In her complaint, the girl’s mother said that the accused, Shahnawaz, a driver, was stalking and harassing the girl for nearly three months. She also accused him of forcing the girl to marry him. She said the accused tried to molest her daughter, but she resisted and slapped him.After the incident, the girl wanted to file a police complaint, but decided not to do so, fearing that it would escalate matters and Shahnawaz would attack other family members.Shahnawaz, who was detained late Thursday, allegedly told police that he knew the girl’s family, including her father. He claimed that after her father’s death, the girl often came to his house. He accused the girl of stealing two mobile phones from his room a few days earlier. He claimed an argument broke out between them when he went to get them back from her house.He told cops that the girl came to visit him on Wednesday night and shared a meal with him at his rented accommodation. Shahnawaz claimed they had a heated exchange during which he pushed her from the fourth floor. He claimed the girl’s mother and younger sister were standing in the lane outside the house when the girl fell to her death. Scared, he fled without waiting to check on the girl, he told cops.In her complaint, the girl’s mother accused Shahnawaz of accosting the girl when she went to buy milk from a shop near her home around 10 pm on Wednesday. She claimed that the accused dragged the girl to his room and shoved her from the fourth floor of the building a few minutes later. Locals, who spotted her lying face down near the building, took her to a nearby hospital, where the girl died during treatment a day later, she said. Police are yet to find a corroborating witness statement and are also analysing CCTV footage to ascertain the sequence of events.Indirapuram ACP Suryabali Maurya said Shahnawaz was arrested early Friday morning after the attempt to murder charge in the original FIR was replaced and murder charges were added. Police are probing whether the girl was sexually assaulted before her death. The officer said further action will be based on the autopsy report, which is awaited.
