Narsinghpur (Madhya Pradesh), August 6: An eight-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, raped and murdered in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district and the police arrested the accused involved in the crime, an officer said on Thursday.

 

 

 

The incident was reported under the jurisdiction of Gotegaon police station limits on Wednesday. The minor went missing on Wednesday afternoon after leaving her school. When she did not return home, her family launched a search and her body was later recovered from a nearby forest area.

 

 

 

Narsinghpur Superintendent of Police (SP), Rishikesh Meena, said the minor girl was reported missing at around 5 pm on August 5 after she failed to return home from school.

 

 

 

"Gotegaon Police received information that an eight-year-old girl was missing. She was neither at school nor had she reached home. Police immediately activated multiple teams and launched a search operation. Nine search teams, along with villagers, carried out a scientific search of nearby villages and forest areas. After nearly eight hours of searching, the girl's body was recovered from a teak forest around midnight," Meena told reporters.

 

 

 

While one set of teams searched for the child, another worked on gathering intelligence. During the investigation, the police learnt that a local man of the same village was last seen with the girl at around 2 pm, the officer said.

 

 

 

He further said, "The man was traced and taken into custody. During his physical examination, blood stains were found on his clothes and the police dog squad also tracked the accused to his house, while investigators also recovered crucial technical evidence from mobile phone analysis. Based on all these pieces of evidence, the accused was interrogated and confessed to committing the crime."

 

 

 

The accused took the minor on his motorcycle from outside her school to a dense forest, where he raped her. When the child resisted and screamed, he tried to strangle her, then threw her face down into a nearby stream and fled the spot, SP Meena said.

 

 

 

He added that the accused was arrested from a forest near the village after an overnight search operation. Police said he sustained minor injuries after his motorcycle reportedly skidded while he was attempting to flee. He was provided primary medical treatment before being questioned.

 

 

 

The SP said the accused would be taken to the crime scene for reconstruction of the incident and that further investigation would focus on collecting all scientific and forensic evidence.

 

 

 

"We will seek a day-to-day trial in a fast-track court so that the accused receives the strictest possible punishment. Such punishment should send a strong message that the law will show no leniency towards those who commit such heinous crimes," he said.