One arrested in Tonk rape case

The Rajasthan police on Monday arrested a 40-year-old man on charges of rape and murder of a minor girl at Kherli village in Tonk district. The child’s body was recovered from the bushes in an isolated area near the village on Sunday.

The six-year-old girl was earlier reported missing when she did not return from her school after a sports function. The condition of her body suggested that she was raped and strangled to death with her school belt, which was tied around her neck. Liquor bottles, snacks and bloodstains were also found at the spot.

Superintendent of police Adarsh Sidhu said the accused, Mahendra Meena - a truck driver who resides in the same village - took the victim from her school to an isolated area, on the pretext of giving her toffees, and committed the crime.

“Mahendra killed the girl because he feared that she would narrate the incident to her parents and reveal his identity,” Mr. Sidhu said. The accused was in an inebriated state when he committed the crime, after which he fled and was planning to leave Rajasthan, he said.

The police collected crucial evidence from the crime spot and also used sniffer dogs to trail the accused. He was caught in a forest area near Uniara and brought to Aligarh police station for interrorgation, where he admitted to having raped and killed the minor girl.

Mr. Sidhu had pressed the staff from five police stations into service to investigate the crime and catch the accused, after the villagers staged a demonstration demanding immediate identification and arrest of the culprit.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development Mamta Bhupesh met the victims family in Kherli village on Monday and handed a cheque of ₹2.50 lakh as an initial financial assistance from the State government. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Sunita Beniwal accompanied the Minister.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the minor girl’s rape and murder was “highly condemnable and shameful”. “The accused of the heinous crime will not be spared,” he tweeted.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also sought an action-taken report from the State government in connection with the incident within seven days.