Balasore: A 9-year-old girl, who had been missing since three days, was found dead in an abandoned three-storey building in Balgopalpur industrial area under Remuna police limits in Odisha’s Balasore district on Thursday evening.
It is suspected that the deceased might have been raped before being murdered.
Police have detained one Rabi Singh in connection with the incident and he is being questioned.
According to sources, the girl was allegedly abducted on Tuesday morning by the young man of Nuapadhi panchayat after luring her with puri and curry breakfast offer. When the girl did not return home, her family members searched for her all through the night and lodged a missing complaint the next day.
“The family had suspected involvement of Rabi, who regularly visited, behind her abduction as he had taken her to Emami Chhak on the pretext of giving her snacks. Accordingly a probe was conducted and the body was recovered from the abandoned building. Preliminary investigation suggests that the accused battered the girl to death using a boulder,” said Remuna police station IIC Ranju Hasini Kullu.
The accused was nabbed from Nilagiri area. Whether the girl was violated would be known only after postmortem and other medical tests, he said.
He, however, added that the accused had confessed to the crime during the interrogation. “He admitted that he brought the minor girl to an abandoned house near Remuna and committed rape before killing her. After the offence, he left the body in the house and fled,” the IIC added.
Sources added that the body was found around 8 pm. Senior police officers, including SP Sagarika Nath, arrived to oversee the investigation.
