A six-year-old girl was raped and murdered, allegedly by a teenaged boy in Salem district on Sunday evening. Police found the body in an aluminium vessel in the pooja room of his house in Thelunganur village in Kolathur police station limits near Mettur.
According to police, the girl, daughter of a fisherman and a class II student of a Government school, was walking on the street when the 17-year-old boy, a school dropout, lured her with sweets and sexually assaulted her in his house. Fearing that she might tell her parents about it, the boy allegedly strangled her to death.
“He also inflicted injuries on her cheeks and stomach using a blade,” said a police office adding that he dumped the body in the aluminium vessel, covered it with a lid and placed it in the pooja room. The girl’s father, who was looking for her on Saturday evening, lodged a complaint with the Kolathur police on Sunday morning and named the boy as a suspect after some people noticed the girl walking with the accused the previous evening.
A police team then picked up the boy, who reportedly tried to flee. On being questioned, he is said to have confessed that he raped and killed the girl.
The police sent the girl’s body to the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem and arrested the accused on charges of rape and murder.
The body was taken to the village after post-mortem late Sunday evening amidst police security.
Security strengthened
Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Singh said security has been strengthened in Thelunganur and the surrounding areas. A police team led by Mr. Natarajan, DSP, and comprising Inspectors of Police of Kolathur, Mettur, Karumalaikoodal and Magudanchavadi police stations is camping in the village. “The situation is well under control,” the SP added.
