Raipur Police on Thursday claimed to have detained a minor boy for allegedly abducting, sexually exploiting and murdering an 8-year-old girl, who mysteriously went missing from Saddu locality in Raipur and later her partially decomposed body recovered from the same area after few days.

“In connection with abduction, rape and murder of a minor girl, who was abducted from Saddu locality under Vidhan Sabha Police Station limits on December 7, police have held a 14-year-old boy. The boy allegedly abducted the victim on December 7 and strangulated the girl after exploiting her sexually,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prashant Agrawal.

However, senior officials praised the probing team for cracking the case within 12 hours after the recovery of the abducted girl’s body, residents of the victim’s locality accused Vidhan Sabha police of acquiring careless approach in the case. The local alleged that Vidhan Sabha Police have acquired lackadaisical attitude in the sensitive case resulting in delay to recover the abducted girl’s dead body and eventually arrest of the accused. Shedding details about the chronology of the crime, SSP Agrawal said that on December 7, the minor girl went untraceable following which Vidhan Sabha Police registered an offence under Section 363 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) acting on the received complaint and launched a search for the victim.

On December 13, the victim’s body was recovered from a vacant land at Saddu locality and the short postmortem report revealed strangulation as the cause of the death. Moreover, the report also confirms sexual exploitation with the victim. “Based on the fresh findings, more sections were added in the case and a special team under the leadership of Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Kirtan Rathore was constituted to probe the case and arrest the accused. As per the analysis of footage from cameras installed near the spot from where the victim’s body was recovered, police rounded-up the minor boy on suspicion for questioning,” the SSP said. During questioning, the boy admitted to committing the crime, the officer added. An offence in connection with the incident was registered under Sections 363, 302, 201, 367 of IPC and under relevant Sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and further probe in the case is underway, SSP Agrawal informed. Investigation revealed that accused boy allegedly used to pornographic contents in the mobile phone of his sister-in-law as well as uncle, SSP Agrawal said. The officer further elaborated that the minor boy’s father was arrested by police for allegedly raping his daughter. The boy’s father had spent three years in jail and was released from the jail around one month back.