RAPE AND KILL: Tragic end to Intermediate student

ANANTAPUR: A sixteen-year-old Intermediate student, who was sexually assaulted and set ablaze by her lover on the outskirts of Badvel in Kadapa district on Saturday, died at the RIMS hospital in Kadapa, police said on Sunday.

The girl suffered 80 per cent burn injuries. The incident occurred near a plywood industry at the PP Kunta Check Post.

The Kadapa police cracked the mystery within a few hours of the incident and arrested Jakkala Vignesh, aged 19. He was residing close to the victim’s house in Badvel town and working as a cook in a hotel.

Kadapa SP Harsha Vardhan told the media the girl was a student of the BJSR Private College in Badvel. “Vignesh had married a woman six months ago and she is now pregnant.”

Vigensh called the girl and asked her to meet him in a deserted place near PP Kunta in Gopavaram mandal. The girl went there in an auto rickshaw. Vignesh hatched a plan to eliminate her because she was demanding that he marry her.

He followed her on his motorcycle. In between, he filled petrol in the vehicle at Alamkhanpalle area and got more petrol to fill a bottle too.

Both went into the deep bushes. There, he had sex with the girl and she reiterated her demand that he marry her. After a heated argument, Vignesh pressed her throat hard and she fell unconscious. He doused petrol on her, set her ablaze and fled from the spot.

The nearby people rushed to the spot after hearing the girl’s cried and seeing the flames. They shifted her to Badvel and was later referred to RIMS Kadapa.

The SP said Vignesh used his wife’s mobile phone and switched off his mobile phone, to mislead the police investigation. The clues team collected clothes of the victim, her college bag, the empty bottle etc from the spot.

A case was registered based on a statement by the victim at RIMS hospital a few hours before the death. Upon arrest, Vignesh confessed his crime.

Expressing deep regret over the ghastly incident, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, on Sunday, directed the SP to complete the investigation fast and ensure punishment to the accused.