india

Updated: Sep 03, 2019 05:29 IST

A middle-aged man allegedly murdered a 14-year-old girl after she resisted his rape attempt at Ata in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district, a police officer said on Monday.

The girl’s disrobed body with her dupatta tied around her neck was found on Sunday in bushes near a pond a day after she went missing on Saturday.

Jalaun police superintendent Satish Kumar said the girl went missing on Saturday night after she went to a field near her house to relieve herself.

He said the girl’s family found her body in the bushes the following morning.

Kumar said Ranjit Ahirwar, 37, the accused who already faces a rape case, was among those detained and questioned based on the inputs from the girl’s family and neighbours. He added Ahirwar confessed to the crime after he could not explain blades of grass all over his body. “It seems the victim had fought hard with the accused before he killed her,” Kumar said.

He added the accused has a history of sexual assaults and the last case was lodged against him in 2017. Kumar said Ahirwar was out on bail. “He kept an eye out for the victim and followed her after she left her house on Saturday night,” Kumar said.

Ahirwar was medically examined at a local hospital and then produced in a court, which sent him in judicial custody.

Deputy inspector general (Jhansi range) Subhash Singh Baghel, who visited the crime scene, said Ahirwar has been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 363 (kidnapping) on the basis of the complaint of the girl’s father.

“The suspect already has a rape case pending against him. He is also accused of molesting a minor relative, which went unreported. We are waiting for the post-mortem report [to confirm or deny rape] before further action can be taken. He is being interrogated,” said Baghel.

The girl’s family said they informed the police within an hour of her disappearance but station house officer Jagdamba Prasad Dubey and circle officer Sanjeev Sharma advised them to look for her. The girl’s father said his she would have been alive had the police acted in time.