4-year-old girl raped, smothered to death in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon; accused arrested

A police official said that the accused, identified as Shekhar Korram, was arrested after the incident on August 22.

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RAJNANDGAON: A four-year-old girl was raped and smothered to death allegedly by a 28-year-old man in her village in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district.

A police official told PTI that the accused, identified as Shekhar Korram, was arrested after the incident on August 22. 

"On Saturday evening, the victim's family members informed the police that she was missing since afternoon," the official said. During investigation it came to light that the girl was last seen in front of Korram's house.

The accused was found hiding in an under-construction house in the village, he said. "Korram told police that he picked up the girl while she was playing in front of his house, took her inside, and sexually assaulted her. When she tried to scream, he covered her face with a cloth while committing the crime, resulting in the victim's death due to suffocation," he said.

The body of the girl was recovered from the house of Korram, he said.

He was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said.