A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by a 50-year-old man at a graveyard in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

Police said that the crime took place on Friday evening and the accused, a neighbour of the victim, was arrested on Sunday.

The girl was playing outside her house on Friday evening when the accused abducted her and committed the crime, said police.

Worried about getting caught, the accused strangled her and hid the body in the bushes just 200 m away from her house. After realizing that the girl had gone missing, the family searched for her the entire night but she was nowhere to be found. The body was later discovered on Saturday morning by a local.

The family then approached the police and lodged a complaint. An FIR was registered under BNS sections 103 (murder), 65(2) (rape), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 5/6 Pocso Act was filed.

SP (city) Vyom Bindal said that the accused is unmarried and is an alcoholic. “The girl’s father is a daily wager. The accused was produced in court and sent to jail. Further investigation is on,” said Bindal.

“The post-mortem report revealed that she was sexually assaulted and later throttled to death. There were injury marks and bruises all over her body,” the SP said.

Soure: TOI

Also read: 15-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Gang-Raped and Pushed from School Terrace in UP, Dies