A six-year-old girl was allegedly murdered and then raped by a 28-year-old man living in the same village of Haridwar in Uttarakhand. The incident happened on Friday afternoon and the semi-nude body of the girl was recovered Saturday noon followed by accused’s arrest in evening, said a senior police official.

According to senior superintendent of police,Haridwar, Janmejaya Khanduri, the girl and the accused were known to each other as they were residents of the same village. The accused who is married with two children, is a labourer while the father of the deceased girl is also a labourer.

“The girl was playing with other children of the village, including the seven-year-old son of accused who gave important clues to police. At around 3pm, the accused came there and lured the girl to go with him in the nearby field to sit under a tree,” he said.

Instead of sitting under the tree, accused took her into the field and killed her.

“So far in the initial investigations, it seems that she was first killed and then raped by him. After the incident, he returned to home at around 4.30 pm. When his wife asked him where he was in the afternoon, he gave a dilly-dallying answer,” Khanduri added.

Accused’s son gave an important lead to police which ultimately enabled the police to arrest him.

“As he was also among the children playing with her on Friday, the police politely asked him about the happenings. He said his father approached her and asked her to come with her under the Banyan tree which she did as she knew him,” he said, adding “police then arrested him who during interrogation confessed to the crime.”

“It is a very heinous crime. The accused has been booked for murder and rape under relevant sections of IPC and PoCSO Act. Investigations are on,” Khanduri said.

First Published: Apr 27, 2019 19:51 IST