Gurgaon, Dec 5 (IANS): The 34-year-old father of a five-year-old girl who was brutally raped and abandoned near a Metro station in Gurgaon, Haryana, June 15, Thursday began a fast unto death to demand a CBI inquiry into the crime against his child.

The man, accompanied by his wife, mother-in-law, and two minor sons, protested outside the mini-secretariat, demanding that the probe be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Gurgaon police investigations have failed to nab the criminal and provide the victim and her family justice.

Although the whole family has joined the protest, only the child's father has decided to go on an indefinite fast.

The five-year-old suffered severe internal injuries in the incident, and was referred to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital for treatment.

The victim's father, a barber, lives with his family in a rented home in Sikanderpur area.

An activist working with a non-governmental organisation, who has been supporting the family in its quest for justice, said: "Gurgaon police failed to arrest anyone in the case so far. The issue was almost dumped by the probing agency."

"The victim's family's demands are few and genuine. The girl is still under medical observation, and she seems to have lost everything," the activist told IANS.

Police said the girl had been lured by a man who offered her food during a "Bhandara" (community lunch) near the Bristol Hotel in Gurgaon. He later raped her.

A little before the crime, the girl's 12-year-old cousin was with her. The cousin told police that the man appeared to be in his 40s.

Police had readied a sketch of the suspected attacker on the basis of the description by the cousin, but that did not help in nabbing the culprit.

The girl reportedly went missing at 12.30 noon, June 15. She was found in an unconscious state near a Metro pillar at 2 p.m..