india

Updated: May 14, 2019 08:16 IST

Police arrested a man for allegedly raping and killing a seven-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday. The minor, a class 2 student, was found lying under a heap of dry leaves close to where her home is.

Police said the girl had gone to a house in the neighbourhood with her father to attend a function on Sunday, after which she stayed back to watch a movie on a projector. Her father, on the other hand, went back home. He was under the impression that his daughter was sleeping at the neighbour’s home.

On Monday morning, the neighbour, Rudal, who the police only identified by his first name, informed the father that his daughter’s body was lying in a heap of leaves nearby. Kheri superintendent of police (SP) Poonam, additional SP Ghanshyam Chaurasiya and deputy SP Vijay Anand rushed to the village and inspected the spot.

Police arrested Rudal after the father suspected that he was behind the murder. Preliminary investigation revealed the accused may have cajoled the minor into going out with him as she knew him.

Blood stains around the victim’s body indicate she was raped before she was killed, police said.

A case of rape and murder was registered and the girl’s body was sent for a post-mortem examination, deputy SP Anand said.

Some villagers claimed they saw the accused roaming around the spot where the minor’s body was found late into the night. During interrogation, Rudal confessed to his crime, police said.

According to the villagers, Rudal was a widower whose wife passed away a few years ago.