The body of a seven-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped on Saturday night, was found in the Nellurhalli lake near Whitefield on the outskirts of the city on Sunday morning.
The police said that the girl had been raped allegedly by her father Basavaraju's acquaintance, Nagaraj, 28, a helper at a private workshop in Nellurhalli.
The victim's grieving mother, Mahadevi, said that the girl, a student of a government school, had gone to the Mariyamma temple near their house around 9 p.m. on Saturday after her dinner to collect the temple prasadam.
It was then that she met Nagaraj, who offered her biscuits and sweets, took her to a location near the lake and allegedly raped her.
The police suspected that the girl had become unconscious after being raped and was dumped into the lake by Nagaraj.
The victim is the third daughter of Mahadevi and Basavaraju, a manual labourer, who have been living in Nellurhalli for the past four years.
Basavaraju originally hails from Sangapura in Raichur district.
Their eldest daughter, who is 10 years old, had seen her sister going with Nagaraj and informed her parents about it, said Mahadevi.
When the girl did not return for a long time, the parents filed a missing complaint with the Whitefield Police around midnight.
After filing the complaint, the parents continued their search for the girl overnight.
Early on Sunday morning, they found the body in the lake, said Mahadevi.
She also said that they found many bottles of liquor near the lake.
The shattered parents informed the police and the body was recovered from the lake at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday. The body was shifted to Lady Curzon Bowring Hospital for post-mortem. Meanwhile, Nagaraj, who had taken shelter in a shed nearby, was arrested by the police.
He was taken to the Whitefield Police Station. Basavaraju said that they did not know Nagaraj well but he had visited them twice or thrice.
