The Station House Officer of the Sector 3 police station Chandigarh, Inspector Narinder Patiyal, told The Indian Express said that the 35-year-old accused, identified as Rohit, a resident of Dadumajra, had been arrested by the police.

“It was around 8.30 last night when the six-year-old girl, a resident of Kaimbwala, was playing with her friends near Prachin mandir, when the accused approached the children. He tried to lure the children and said, ‘kapde or ladoo laaunga (I will bring clothes and laddoos)’. On this, the six-year-old sat on his bike,” the SHO said.

He added that while the accused was fleeing with the child, near Khuda Ali Sher, his bike somehow got stuck in an iron wire. “The accused took a kachcha road near PGI Khuda Ali Sher area where a private project was going on and there were iron wires. As he tried driving fast, the bike got stuck, skidded and they both fell. The wire got stuck around his neck and the child too got slightly injured,” the police said.

As the child cried loudly, the accused tried to pacify her. “Because the child was uncontrollable, the accused left it near Kaimbwala turn. After the child somehow managed to reach her house, she narrated the incident to her parents who further lodged a complaint with the police,” the SHO said.

The family of the child, with the help of the temple authorities, analysed the CCTV footage and found the youth lurking in the area for quite some time observing children. It was then that they immediately called other villagers of the area and informed the police.

While scrutinising the CCTV footage of the temple area, the police tried to gather details about the accused.

Teams were constituted and the police found him at his residence at Dadumajra in the wee hours where he was planning to flee from.

SHO Narender said, “A major incident has been averted. We are investigating the role of the accused in other similar incidents as well.”