Maharashtra: Minor girl raped and murdered, body dumped in Gujarat; accused Palghar resident arrested

Representative Image. Pic/iStock

A 45-year-old man from Maharashtra's Palghar district has been arrested on the charge of kidnapping, rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, an official said on Thursday.

The girl from Talasari taluka went to school around 9 am on Wednesday but did not return home, prompting her family to approach the police, said Sachin Navadkar, the public relations officer of the Palghar rural police.

Four police teams pieced together many leads and intelligence inputs to zero in on a neighbour of the girl. He was then taken into custody on suspicion, the official said.

During interrogation, the man said he took the girl to Sanjan in Gujarat, less than 20 km from Talasari, where he raped and killed her before dumping the body in a forest, the official said.

Palghar police then recovered body and sent it for a post-mortem, he added.

Also read: Maha: Man sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping minor kin in Palghar

Meanwhile, a man was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Palghar in Maharashtra for raping his wife's brother's minor daughter several times in 2019.

He was convicted by Special Judge MS Deshpande under Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Tuesday, and details of the order were made available on Thursday.

The minor's father was a fisherman and her mother died some time ago, due to which she was in the care of her grandmother and other kin.

The accused would often rape her when no one was around and threaten her to not reveal the ordeal to anyone, as per the prosecution.

The accused was arrested after she confided in the accused's son, who in turn told her father, after which a case was filed at Gholwad police station. (PTI)