A youth raped an eight-year-old girl near her school in Nathuabar-Nuasahi village here. The accused, Kuna Pradhan (22) of the same village, was arrested on Thursday.
Though the incident occurred on Friday in last week, it was reported to police on Wednesday evening.
A student of Nathuabar Primary School, the girl had gone to her school along with her classmates on Friday morning. When she reached the school, her class teacher told that the classes were suspended due to construction work of the school building. Instead of returning home, she was playing with her friends near the school when the accused Pradhan lured her on the pretext of providing chocolates. He later took her to an abandoned house, a few yards from the school, where he raped her. The girl informed her parents the same day who approached the village committee. When the accused refused to admit his crime before the village committee, an FIR was registered by father of the girl at Kuakhai police station, said SP Deepak Kumar. The accused had absconded after the FIR was filed.
After raids at several places, he was arrested from a nearby village. He was forwarded to a local court which remanded him in judicial custody after rejecting his bail plea.