The body of an 18-year-old girl, who was raped and killed, was found in a paddy field at Satrikh area in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh late on Wednesday, police said on Friday. One person has been arrested.
On the basis of digital evidence and ground information, accused Dinesh Gautam (19) was arrested, said Additional SP Ram Sewak Gautam.
The accused, belonging to a hamlet in the same gram sabha as the victim, confessed to committing the crime, the police officer said. The facts revealed by him during interrogation were being authenticated.
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Police initially registered a murder case but after the post-mortem report confirmed rape, charges under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code were included in the FIR, he said. POCSO Act was included in the FIR after it was proven through some documents that the victim was under 18, said ASP Gautam.
The girl had gone out and her father found the body in a field when he went in search of her after she failed to return.
In the police complaint lodged against unknown accused, he said someone had strangulated his daughter
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‘Hands and feet tied’
A family member told a television channel that she was naked and her hands and feet were tied.
The victim’s father, a Dalit labourer, demanded punishment for the guilty and that the family be provided a pucca house. “We want the real murderers to be arrested but our family and villagers should not be unnecessarily harassed [by the police under the pretext of questioning],” he told a media channel.
The Barabanki police issued a statement, saying there was no pressure from police on the victim’s family.