Gujarat: Man held for rape, murder of 13-year-old girl in Bharuch

SURAT: A 24-year-old man was arrested for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl from Sarbhan village of Amod taluka in Bharuch on Monday.
The accused Vasant Rathod was arrested after his DNA samples matched with that found on the deceased girl who was found murdered on November 8, 2021.
According to case details, the 13-year-old girl had gone missing after she went to collect firewood.Her family members and villagers started searching and found her body from a cotton farm. Postmortem of the deceased confirmed rape.
The investigation into the rape and murder was handed over to the Bharuch local crime branch (LCB). A team of investigators camped in the village for about a month and collected evidence. They questioned more than 200 villagers and out of them DNA samples of eight suspects was sent for matching with that found on the victim.
Rathod’s DNA matched and subsequently, he was arrested. Police said that Rathod regularly visited the pan shop owned by the girl’s father.
On November 8, 2021, when Rathod saw that the girl had gone alone to collect firewood, he went behind and allegedly raped her on a cotton farm and strangled her. He also joined the search team of villagers to avoid suspicion.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)