Miss you didi. The accused should be hanged to death’, reads a huge hoarding put up at the main entrance of a bylane in Kalyan that leads to the houses of the 12-year-old victim who lived in a chawl and the accused who stayed in a building opposite her home. On the evening of December 23 (after 6 pm), as the victim’s parents were frantically searching for their missing daughter until late in the night, the accused, Vishal Gawli, 28, had not only sexually abused the girl, but had already killed her by strangulation.

He also, allegedly, not only convinced the woman believed to be his third wife (also an accused in the case) to help him dispose of the body, but also lied to a neighbour before borrowing his autorickshaw to transport the body in a trolly bag. He passed through the lane where the victim lived a little after 9 pm and returned home two hours later, while her parents were still searching for her.