Gopalganj man held for rape and murder of 9-year-old girl

PATNA: A 24-year-old man was sent to jail on Wednesday for allegedly raping and killing his 9-year-old neighbourhood girl at a village under Sidhwalia police station area of Gopalganj district on Tuesday evening. The accused had stuffed the girl’s body in a sack and kept it on an overhead rack inside his residence to dispose it of later.
The girl used to visit the nearby residence of the accused to play with his 2- year-old son, Sidhwalia police station SHO Ranjeet Paswan said.“However, no one else was present in the house when she reached there at around 12.30pm. The wife, along with the son of the accused had gone to her parental home while his mother had also been away to one of her relatives’ place,” the SHO said.
The man was the prime suspect as his house had been locked. Police finally arrested him late in the evening after which he confessed to the crime. An FIR was lodged on the statement of the victim’s father.
Gopalganj Sadar SDPO Naresh Paswan told TOI over phone that the man had pressed his hands on her mouth and nose to prevent her from shouting. “The girl died while he kept raping her. He realized it only later that she had died,” the SDPO said, adding the body was recovered after his arrest and confessional statement.
The SDPO said the district administration has been requested to set up a medical broad for conducting postmortem.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)