Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Yet another incident of rape of a minor, the second in four days, has come to light in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh, where a nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered late on Thursday night.

Local sources claimed that the victim had gone to Keltha village in Etah district to attend the wedding of her cousin. She was allegedly lured by a person named Pintu Kumar, 25, who took her to a secluded area, raped her and then murdered her.

The body of the victim was spotted in a nearby farm at 3 am after an intensive search by the family. “The accused was a sweet maker (halwai) who had come to cook for the wedding,” said a local police officer.

According to police sources, the accused was arrested and booked for murder, rape and concealing evidence after the nine-year-old girl’s father filed a complaint. The accused was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

“After the rituals of a pre-wedding ceremony (tilak) were over, the family of the girl started looking for her at 10 pm. On failing to find her, the search was intensified and the girl’s body was spotted in a semi-naked condition in a farm some 100 metres away from the venue of the wedding ,” said a senior police official of Aliganj police station area.

The body was sent for a post-mortem at the district hospital in Etah.

During their investigation, the cops found that Kumar, a part of the team of cooks hired to prepare food for the guests, asked the victim to bring him a glass of water as he prepared to consume liquor during the ceremony.

Later, under the influence of alcohol, he approached the girl and wooed her to a shop. He then took the minor to a nearby farm, where the crime was committed.

One of the friends of the girl, who was a class two student, confirmed to the police that the victim was last seen with the accused.

In the wee hours of Tuesday, a seven-year-old girl was raped and murdered during a wedding ceremony in Sitalpur village, just 50 km from the spot where Thursday’s incident took place.