Minor raped, killed in Tamil Nadu, 1 held

PUDUKOTTAI: A missing sevenyear-old girl was sexually assaulted and killed allegedly by a man in a village near here, following which he has been arrested, police said here on Thursday.

The crime coming close on the heels of a killing of a 13 -year-old girl in this district, has led to an outrage and chief minister K Palaniswami assured stern legal action against the accused.

“The accused responsible for the heinous crime has been arrested. I have ordered police officials to take expeditious action to get appropriate punishment for him,” he said.

He also announced a solatium of ~5 lakh to the girl’s family. The child went missing on June 30 evening. Her family lodged a police complaint the next day.

During investigation, police said they spotted the body of the child in a deserted location near her village and it was found that the child was last seen with a neighbour. “A youth, living near the child’s house had taken her to a temple and local people had seen them together.

Later, this man had taken her to a secluded place where he sexually assaulted and killed her,” a police official told PTI.

The 25-year-old man was arrested on Thursday. He has confessed to the crime, the official said adding the body of the victim has been sent to a government hospital for post-mortem.

Asked on the findings of autopsy, he said: “the report corroborates the confession of the accused.” A case of rape and murder under IPC sections, the POCSO Act for aggravated penertrative sexual asault and the SC/ST Act has been filed.