Sambhal:
When the investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a six-year-old girl appeared to have hit a dead end, a seven-year-old labrador named Mary helped police identify the accused and get him arrested, officials said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on June 19 in Babrala area, where the girl was found by her mother in a distressed condition. The child was unable to explain what had happened.
A police team reached the spot and started the investigation, but officials faced several challenges as there were no functional CCTV cameras in the area and no eyewitnesses to the incident.
“During the investigation, forensic samples were collected, and some articles were taken from the spot, but initially there was no clear lead about the accused,” an Uttar Pradesh Police officer said.
With conventional methods not yielding results, police called the district’s dog squad. Mary, a labrador deployed with the K-9 unit, was brought to the spot.
The officer said Mary was given the scent trail, and she followed it through the nearby lanes before stopping at a house located a few hundred metres away from the scene.
“Mary helped us reach the house of the accused. Her tracking ability proved crucial in the investigation,” the official said.
Based on the identification made with the help of the dog squad, police took further action against the accused, officials said.
A Sambhal police officer said Mary sniffed the ‘gamcha’ recovered from the crime scene and immediately tracked the house of the accused, Sandeep, a resident Babrala, giving the investigation a decisive direction.
Mary’s precise tracking made it possible to identify the accused, the official said.
“Once the accused was identified, teams were deployed for his arrest. During the checking on the night of June 22, the accused fired at the police team and attempted to flee. In retaliatory action in self-defence, the accused was injured and arrested. One police personnel was also injured during the incident. Both have been sent to hospital for treatment,” the officer added.
For her outstanding role in cracking the case, Mary has been honoured with a cash reward of Rs 10,000 by SP Krishan Kumar Bishnoi.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Police, Mary was the gold medallist of her training batch and has been serving in Sambhal district since 2019.
She has previously also contributed significantly in solving murder, theft and other serious crimes, it said.
Officials said this incident particularly highlighted the importance of trained police dogs in investigations, especially in cases where there is a lack of electronic evidence or eyewitness accounts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
