Bengaluru, Dec 03, TEN Network | Police in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka have arrested a man for the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl. The child’s body was found on Tuesday morning in Chincholi taluk after she went missing on the afternoon of December 2. Sulepeth police took a 35-year-old into custody on the basis of a complaint by the eight-year-old girl’s parents. Further investigation is underway.
According to police officials familiar with the case, the girl went missing from outside her residence on Monday afternoon. Locals told her parents that they saw a man luring her away with chocolates while she was playing. A hunt was launched for the child but to no avail. The parents then approached local police and registered a missing person case in this regard.
Her body was found the next day. Police officers suspect that the child may have been raped before she was strangulated to death by the culprit. An inquiry was made among locals and a 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion. He is reportedly the same man who was seen luring the girl away by locals. The police are yet to comment on whether he has been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Sexual offenders who target children often lure them with chocolates or toys, as has been witnessed in multiple cases over the years.
This disturbing incident has come to light barely days after a six-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Rajasthan’s’ Tonk district. A preliminary investigation by police led to the arrest of a 38-year-old later identified as Mahendra alias Dholiya. He was arrested by Tonk district’s Aligarh police and charged with the crime. Investigators believe that Mahendra raped the girl and then strangled her to death with her own belt. (TN)
