BERHAMPUR: Muniguda police in Rayagada district have arrested one person for allegedly raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl. The accused, identified as 24-year-old Harish Ram (24) of Bihar was nabbed from New Delhi on March 26 and brought to Muniguda on Friday.
According to sources, on March 4, the girl, a standard IV student of Bainibasa village went to sleep after dinner along with her family but the next morning her parents found her missing. Unable to find her, Judhistir Kadraka, her father, lodged a complaint with Muniguda police.
On March 17, her decomposed body was located by children grazing goats in the forest near the village. The body was later identified by Kadraka to be that of his daughter.
Police reached the spot and began investigation. Though the scientific team did not find any injury marks on the body due to its decomposed state, police led by IIC, Saudamini Behera, questioned several persons from the village and also tracked those who belonged to other places but stayed in the village.
During the investigation, police zeroed in on Ram, who worked in the water tank of the village and had been missing since the day of the incident. A search operation began and police gathered evidence that Harish was in Delhi. Soon a police team rushed to Delhi and with the help of their counterpart there, nabbed him on March 26.
“He confessed to the crime and was brought to Muniguda on Friday,” said Muniguda SDPO Santoshini Oram. The accused said on the night of the incident, the victim was watching TV in her home and her parents were asleep in another room.
“He called her out on some pretext, gagged her and took her to a nearby area and raped her. As she cried for help, he strangulated her and dumped the dead body in the nearby forest,” the SDPO added. The crime scene was recreated on Saturday and Harish forwarded to court, said the SDPO.