The Rajasthan police on Monday arrested a 25-year-old man on charges of raping and killing a seven-year-old girl in Jhalawar district’s Mogya Beh village, where her body was found with injury marks on her neck on Saturday. The post-mortem had established that the minor girl was raped and strangled to death.
The accused, Komal Lodha, a resident of the same village, was arrested after a forensic science team, a cyber expert and a dog squad from Kota joined the investigation and helped the police in finding clues to his identity.
Known to the victim
Jhalawar Superintendent of Police Anand Sharma said the accused, who was familiar with the girl and her family, took her to a secluded place when she was going to answer nature’s call. After committing the crime, he allegedly strangulated the girl when she began crying and threw the body in an agricultural field near her home.
Komal, a married man, had recently allegedly attempted to tease a girl in the village, after which her family members thrashed him, according to the police. He was let off when his family members apologised and no complaint was lodged with the police.
The tribal-dominated Mogya Beh village falls in the Aklera block of Jhalawar district. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje represents Jhalrapatan Assembly constituency in the district, situated 330 km away from the State capital.
The police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, while listing the matter in the “case officer scheme” to facilitate speedy trial. The accused will be produced in court on Tuesday with the request for police remand.
