BERHAMPUR: Day after the body of a four-year-old girl was found from an under-construction anganwadi centre in Khalingi village of Ganjam district, police have solved the case and arrested a relative of the deceased on charges of rape and murder.
Ganjam SP Subhendu Patra said the accused, identified as Kalia Naha of Khalingi village, is a distant uncle of the victim. He frequently enticed the victim with chips and toffees during her visits to her maternal uncle’s house in Khalingi.
On Friday, while under the influence of alcohol and after watching explicit content, Kalia saw the victim playing on the street and called her. She approached Kalia unsuspectingly, and he lured her into the under-construction anganwadi centre, where he sexually assaulted her.
“When the victim screamed and tried to resist, he smothered her to death. He then hid her body in an interior room of the building before going to drink again,” he added.
The little girl and her parents from Mahanala village had gone to her maternal uncle’s house in Khalingi to attend the week-long jatra. She went missing while playing with other kids near her uncle’s house.
He family who were busy with villagers in winding up the jatra activities did not notice her absence. However, they found her missing during dinner and went in her search.
A group of villagers found her body in the under-construction building in the wee hours of Saturday.
Since her body bore injury marks, the family suspected that she had been sexually assaulted and then killed. Basing on the complaint, police launched a investigation and her body was sent for postmortem.
SP Patra said, several persons were rounded up on suspicion. However, based on clues and fresh scientific evidence, the accused Kalia was nabbed from the village.
The issue also raised a political storm in the district with leaders of different parties flocking to the village. While Sanakhemundi MLA Ramesh Jena and OPCC presiden Bhakta Charan Das visited the village on Saturday and urged the police to initiate stringent action against the culprit, Transport minister Bibhuti Jena visited the victim’s family on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a petition has been filed by human rights activist Jayant Kumar Das before NHRC seeking compensation of `10 lakh to the family of the victim.