Kochi: A 5-year-old girl whose body was found near Aluva market in Kerala's Kochi on Saturday, was raped and strangled to death after she was abducted from her house, police said on Sunday.
According to officials, the girl belongs to a migrant family from Bihar and had been living in Kerala for 8 years.
"The post-mortem findings of the minor confirmed that the minor was brutally raped. The accused thrashed her face with a stone. She was strangled to death with her own clothes. The girl suffered serious injuries on her head during the attack," a senior police official said while quoting the post-mortem report.
Following the murder, the accused dumped her body in a sack near the market, the official said.
Officials said the incident took place on Friday afternoon at around 3 pm. The girl was kidnapped from her home at the Garage Junction. On the same day, she was raped and strangled with her own clothes to death around 5-5.30 pm.
The family filed a missing person complaint around 7:10 pm on the same day. Later, an FIR was filed on the same day.
During the initial probe, police nabbed a man identified as Asfaq Alam on Friday evening at 9:30 pm on suspicion, and later took him into custody.
"The Suspect was in an inebriated state and attempted to mislead the interrogation. But when confronted with CCTV footage showing him kidnapping the minor, he confessed to the crime on Saturday morning," the police said.
Acting on a lead from a local trade union member, a team of police officials reached a dumping site near the Aluva market after a 21-hour extensive search.
"The police found the body of the minor dumped in a sack in a marshy area littered with garbage and plastics. After inquest proceedings were completed, police sent the body to Kalamassery medical college for postmortem, officials said.
"Further investigations are underway. The motive of the crime has been the intention to rape the minor," the police said while adding that a 14-member special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to further probe the matter.
A case under sections 363, 302, 376 (A) and 364 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has been registered against the accused.
