MALAPPURAM: A 14-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered in Malappuram by a 16-year-old boy.
Her body was found on Friday in a bushy area near railway tracks at Vaniyambalam, close to Nilambur, about 17 kilometres from her home.
The ninth-grade student left home on Thursday morning for school; however, when she did not come back home, her family filed a missing report at the Karuvakund police station.
Her phone briefly activated around 6 pm, during which she assured her mother that she was nearby and would return soon. All subsequent attempts to reach her, however, failed.
An overnight search by family members, local residents, and Karuvarakundu police across the area yielded no results. The crime came to light only after the questioning of a male schoolmate.
Police found the girl's body with her hands and legs tied using clothes from her school bag, still wearing her uniform. Her bag and footwear were also found nearby.
The suspect confessed to luring her to the isolated spot, tying her up, raping her, and killing her by suffocation. He later showed the site of the crime to the police.
Initially, he claimed she had died after being hit by a train. However, suspicions arose due to the body’s position above the tracks, the extent of her injuries, and signs that she had been tied up.
Karuvarakundu police registered a case based on the mother’s complaint and took the Plus Two student into custody. He had earlier been accused twice of stalking and harassing the girl.
He had earlier threatened her family and had even confronted her mother at the police station over their opposition to his advances.
Police officers, accompanied by the suspect, later reached the crime scene more than ten kilometres from the town. Residents suspect he used a bike to reach the remote area.
Relatives of the victim insist the suspect could not have acted alone, citing the crime's brutality, and demand a thorough probe, including locals familiar with the terrain.