Bhubaneswar: A 32-year-old daily labourer reportedly spent two days with the body of a five-year-old girl after allegedly sexually assaulting and strangling her to death in Angul district.
The offence came to light after police detained the suspect on Sunday, following the recovery of her body from a forest area on Saturday evening.
Police sources said the minor girl disappeared while playing near her residence on Thursday afternoon. Unable to locate her, her family lodged a missing person’s report at the local police station on Friday. On Saturday evening, some villagers spotted her body in a nearby forest and alerted the police.
Police investigation made significant progress when a sniffer dog led them to the suspect’s residence, a few hundred metres from the girl’s house, leading to his questioning. The suspect subsequently confessed to the crime during interrogation, police sources said.
SP (Angul) Rahul Jain said: “The suspect, who resides in the girl’s neighbourhood, has been detained. Involvement of others, if any, is being investigated. The suspect will undergo questioning before being formally arrested and produced before the local court on Monday.”
As per police sources, the suspect revealed during questioning that he abducted the girl when she was alone outside her house and took her to his house where nobody was present, as his family was attending a function. He sexually assaulted the minor and strangled her that night.
The suspect remained in the village during police investigation on March 14 after the missing person’s report was filed. After police left the village, he disposed of the body in the adjacent forest the following day.
“We have engaged a DSP to lead the sensitive investigation. We will try to file the chargesheet in court within 15 days against the accused. Vital evidence is being collected against the accused,” Jain told TOI.