Tirupur: Nearly three weeks after a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the city, police have booked her 33-year-old father under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Posco) Act and arrested him. Police have also sent blood samples collected from the victim’s clothes for chemical examination to corroborate their findings.An investigation officer said the incident came to light when the girl, who was in tears, knocked on the door of her neighbour’s house with minor injuries on her head and bleeding from genitals around midnight on October 31.The neighbour immediately alerted the girl’s father, who was sleeping along with his elder daughter in their house, the main door of which was unlocked. Hearing the commotion, other neighbours also came to the spot and they all believed that an unidentified man had abducted the girl when she was asleep and sexually assaulted her. The victim’s mother was not home at the time of the incident, as she had gone to a knitwear unit for night duty.“The girl’s father told them that he was in deep sleep as he was in an inebriated state. He said someone could have abducted his daughter, took her to the terrace of the housing complex and sexually assaulted her. He also said he had heard someone speaking over phone,” said a senior police officer, who didn’t want to be named.The officer said they felt something was fishy as the girl first knocked on the door of a neighbouring house when her father and sister were in her house. “Moreover, the neighbour said the knocking sound suggested that it was done by an adult. So, we suspected the girl’s father, who works with a textile printing unit.”During investigation, findings suggested that the girl’s father could be a pervert. Police also found that the girl was not in a position to reveal everything about the incident and someone was apparently forcing her to plant some stories to mislead them. “So, we conducted an inquiry with the girl with the help of child psychologists. It brought to light that the girl’s father was trying to divert the attention of police. Our suspicion grew stronger when he gave contradictory statements. Also, there is no evidence to prove the presence of some other man,” the officer said.Subsequently, Tirupur North all-woman police booked the girl’s father under various sections of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act on Monday and lodged him at the Coimbatore Central Prison under judicial custody.Police have seized the clothes that the girl’s father was wearing on the fateful night and sent them, along with blood samples, for chemical examination.

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