Four people, including three juveniles, have been detained in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area. Police said the suspects were traced through CCTV footage after the girl’s body was found in an open field.

The body was discovered near Kushak Road on September 13. It was in a badly decomposed condition and had been left exposed in the field. Police said stray dogs had been found around the body, which helped draw attention to the remains and the area.

Investigators later identified the deceased as a 17-year-old girl and began working to establish how she reached the field and who was responsible for her death.

A case was registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

With no immediate suspect identified, Delhi Police began examining CCTV footage from the area. Investigators reportedly checked recordings from more than 50 cameras covering roads and lanes around the field.

A tempo seen travelling near the location became an important lead. The vehicle’s registration number could not be clearly seen in some of the footage because of poor visibility. Police instead tracked its movement across different cameras.

The trail eventually led investigators to a tempo parked in Khadda Colony in Swaroop Nagar. Police questioned the driver and subsequently identified others allegedly connected to the vehicle.

Four people were apprehended during a police operation in the intervening night of September 15 and 16.

The group includes a 19-year-old man and three juveniles, aged 16 and 17. The adult suspect has been identified as Shivam alias Sudama. The identities of the juveniles have not been disclosed because they are minors.

Police said the girl allegedly knew one of the juvenile suspects. Investigators are examining the circumstances in which she met him before the group travelled in the tempo.

According to the police investigation, the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and later attacked with a knife. Investigators suspect she was killed after threatening to report the assault.

Police have been piecing together the sequence using CCTV footage, forensic evidence and statements from the suspects. The exact roles of the four people are still being established.

Investigators are also examining whether anyone else was involved.

Police said two knives, clothes believed to be connected with the crime and the tempo were recovered during the investigation.

The recovered items have been sent for forensic examination. Investigators are expected to compare the evidence with findings from the post-mortem examination as they build the case.

The condition of the body meant that forensic examination became particularly important in establishing the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death.

Police are also reconstructing the movements of the suspects and the victim before the body was abandoned in the field.

Investigators said the girl’s family had not initially filed a missing-person complaint. Police were told that she had previously left home and returned after a few days, which meant her absence did not immediately lead to a missing-person report.

The discovery of the body therefore became the starting point of the investigation.

Police first focused on identifying the girl and determining where she had been before her death. CCTV footage from surrounding roads then helped investigators trace the movements of the suspected vehicle.

The investigation eventually connected the tempo to the four suspects.

The case is being investigated as a serious crime involving a minor, with the three juveniles subject to the applicable juvenile justice provisions.

Police are continuing to question the suspects and examine CCTV footage, forensic material and post-mortem findings. Investigators are also trying to establish the precise timeline between the girl’s meeting with the suspects, the alleged assault, her death and the disposal of her body.

The presence of stray dogs near the abandoned body was among the circumstances surrounding its discovery, but investigators are relying on forensic and technical evidence to establish what happened.

The four suspects remain in custody as the investigation progresses. Police are yet to determine whether further arrests will be required.

The Swaroop Nagar case has brought renewed attention to the role of CCTV surveillance in Delhi crime investigations. In this case, footage from multiple cameras helped police track a vehicle despite the absence of a clearly visible registration number in some recordings.

The investigation now centres on establishing the full sequence of events and determining the individual involvement of each of the four suspects.