GURUGRAM: Parents of the three-year-old girl who was raped and murdered at a slum in the city have claimed they approached Badshapur police station twice about their missing child — first on Sunday afternoon and again at midnight — but police launched a search operation only around 6.30am on Monday.The girl’s body was found around 10.30am. She was a toddler when her parents came to the city from West Bengal two years ago. During the daytime, she would mostly be in the care of her brother (now 11 years old).Both parents were away all day, their father toiled at construction sites and their mother found employment as a domestic help at flats in the vicinity. They had a large family to care for — besides the two children in Gurugram, they had two more children who were growing up at a relative’s place in West Bengal, a son and a daughter.On Sunday (November 11), the mother returned home first. “I came back around 1.30pm and found my daughter missing,” she told TOI on Tuesday. “When I enquired about her, the other children said Sunil uncle had taken her with him, saying he would get her chocolates.” She approached Sunil’s sisters, who were her neighbours, but they said that they had no idea about where Sunil or the girl was.The mother, along with neighbours, started a search for the girl. Her father was also informed. “I returned from work and joined the search. After a few hours when we were still unable to find her, we went to Badshapur police station around 4pm. A police official told us the SHO had gone out for some work and asked us to come later,” said the father, adding that they went back to searching for the girl after handing over a written complaint to police.After several hours had passed, the parents and some of the neighbours hired an auto and made a second visit to Badshahpur police station at midnight. They alleged police again refused to act, citing jurisdiction. “Police said the area had been included under the newly-opened Sector 65 police station and asked us to go there. We were not aware about the location of the new police station and the auto-wala was not ready to go there at the time. So, we returned and waited for sunrise,” said Dinesh Dubey, a neighbour. They resumed the search in the morning and another neighbour called the police control room around 6.30am.Police commissioner KK Rao denied any delay on part of police. “Police control room received a call on Monday morning and within an hour, the ACP and other officers were on the ground,” said Rao, adding that irrespective of jurisdiction, police take action after receiving information on any case. The commissioner, however, added that he would check into the family’s allegations. “I became numb when someone called me and said that the body of my child had been found,” said the father, adding that they cremated the body after a postmortem. The family does not wish to leave Gurugram as they are waiting for calls from police in connection to the case. “Now that the case is with police, we don’t want to leave the city as it might affect the investigation,” the father said.

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