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Feb 16, 2019 News
Brampton, Canada – The frantic search for an 11-year-old girl allegedly abducted by her father on her birthday, Thursday, ended in tragedy after the child was found dead inside a Brampton home.
Roopesh Rajkumar, 41, said to be Guyanese, was taken into custody near Orillia in connection with the death of his daughter Riya — whose abduction was the subject of a late-night Amber Alert.
He has since been transferred to a Toronto trauma centre to be treated for self-inflicted wounds, according to a source.
He has been slapped with first-degree murder charges, according to the Toronto Star.
The case has shocked family members and others who had visited Florida on a separate gathering.
Riya, whom police said did not reside with her father on a full-time basis, had been out celebrating her birthday with him beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday.
The child’s mother went to Peel’s 22 Division when Roopesh, her former boyfriend, didn’t return with the little girl at the agreed-upon time of 6:30 p.m., and began making comments suggesting he was going to harm both himself and his daughter, police said.
An Amber Alert was issued by Peel police around 11:30 p.m. asking anybody who spotted the pair or the father’s 2005 silver two-door Honda Civic to call 911.
Roopesh and his vehicle were spotted shortly after midnight by a citizen in Oro-Medonte, between Barrie and Orillia.
He was taken into custody after a high-risk takedown by provincial police on Hwy. 11, and was handed over to Peel cops Friday morning.
After his arrest, police went to a home on Hansen Rd., in the Kennedy Rd. N. and Williams Pkwy. area, in Brampton and found young the Meadowvale Village Public School student dead.
The Grade 5 student’s death “has brought tremendous sadness to the students and staff,” principal, Stacy Service, said in a statement. Counsellors were on hand at the school, in the Mavis and Derry Rds. area, to help her classmates.
“Riya was a well-liked student, and her death is deeply felt by everyone at the school,” Service said.
Nobody else was in the home at the time, Const. Akhil Mooken said, and the young girl’s cause of death was not released.
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