7-YR-OLD RAPED AND MURDERED

PUDUKOTTAI: A man has been arrested for alleged involvement in the sexual assault and killing of a 7-year-old girl, who was reported missing, in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai, police said on Thursday. Officials said they spotted her body in a deserted location near a village in the area. A police official said one of the village residents took the girl to a secluded place where he sexually assaulted and killed her. CM K Palaniswami assured stern action against the accused and announced a solatium of ~5 lakh for the girl’s family.

RAIPUR: A 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly set on fire by a man for resisting a molestation attempt in Mungeli district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on June 30 in a village under Mungeli

Kotwali police station limits, the police said.

“The accused Bablu Bhaskar (30) has been arrested and we have booked him under section 302 (murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 354 of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” said Bilaspur range Inspector General

of Police, Dipanshu Kabra.

Mungli superintendent of police D Shrawan said the accused allegedly barged into the girl’s house.

“The accused first attempted to sexually assault her when she was alone in her house and later set her on fire by pouring kerosene on her. The girl shouted for help and ran outside the house.

The neighbors doused the fire and rushed her to the hospital where she died on Wednesday,” said the SP.

The victim succumbed to her burn injuries during treatment at a hospital on Wednesday, Mungeli Sub-divisional Officer of Police Tejram Patel said.

An investigation was underway in the case, he added.