A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by a 25-year-old man in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district late on Sunday night, police said, adding that the accused was taken into custody for questioning.
The incident
“The child sustained severe bleeding during the assault, and the accused allegedly smothered her to death to prevent the crime from coming to light. The villagers searched for the accused and caught him in the early hours of Monday, thrashed him and handed him over to the police. “We have taken him into custody for questioning. Police have taken up an investigation into the incident. Further details, including the findings of the post-mortem examination and the formal charges against the accused, are awaited.
Subsequently, he placed the girl’s body on a chair near her house at around 2 am in the wee hours of Monday, before fleeing the scene,” the police said.
The accused, a resident of the same locality, allegedly took the girl, who was sleeping along with her grandmother outside her house, to an isolated place nearby and assaulted her sexually, according to the police. He was said to be under the influence of cannabis at the time of committing the crime,” a police official said.
Family protests
Senior police officials from Ongole reached the spot and held discussions with the protesters. The blockade was called off after officials reportedly assured the family and villagers that a murder case would be registered along with charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They also assured them that the case would be pursued through a fast-track court and that government assistance would be extended to the victim’s family.
