SALEM: A 29-year-old casual labourer has been arrested for allegedly raped and murdered a six-year-old infant here on Saturday.
According to Thalaivasal police, Velan (31), a casual labourer of Govindampalayam near Thalaivasal was residing with his wife Gokila (28), son Indiran (8) and a daughter Indhu (6) (all the names were changed). Indhu was a class II student of a local government school.
On April 3, Indhu suddenly went missing. Family members and relatives after days of search for the girl in various places found her body in a farm well owned by Periyasamy (29) on May 5.
In the postmortem report, the doctors confirmed that she was sexually assaulted and murdered. Following this, police registered a case and began investigations.
Meanwhile, Periyasamy vanished from the area. This turned the needle of suspicion on Periyasamy and police launched a hunt for him. He was arrested on Saturday. During interrogations, he confessed to having raped Indhu and threw her into the well. “The accused Periyasamy got married five years ago. However, his wife divorced him unable to bear his torture. On the day of crime, he took the infant by giving chocolate and raped her in a secluded spot”, said a senior police official.