5-year-old girl murder case: Accused addicted to child pornography, 'attempted' sex with dead body

Bhubaneswar, Dec 23: Five months after a minor girl was allegedly kidnapped and murdered in Nayagarh district of Odisha, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police's Crime Branch made the first arrest who had raped the victim after strangulating her to death.

Speaking to media, SIT chief Arun Bothra said that the accused Saroj Sethi, who is the prime accused in the case strangulated the child & then raped her after killing her in his house. The accused also confessed that he was addicted to child pornography.

Arun Bothra further informed that the accused had watched porn videos throughout the previous night of the heinous crime.

The arrested person is from Jadupur, the five-year-old victim's village under Nayagarh Sadar police station, the Crime Branch said in a statement.

The SIT charged the arrested person with rape, besides kidnapping and murder.

However, the accused youth's mother and sister and also the victim's parents rejected the Special Investigation Team's claim. While the accused's mother said that her son was "innocent", the victim's mother said that he (accused) was a "good person".

Meanwhile, the youth's mother in a written complaint at the Nayagarh Sadar Police station said: "The SIT arrested my innocent son. I have complained about this to the Sadar Police. Bothra told my son to admit to the crime and take Rs 5 lakh cash. My son has been subjected to physical and mental torture. He is being forced to admit charges."

While describing the minor girl's murder as most "brutal and gruesome" in his 22-years of service in the police, Bothra, said, the accused was very clever and therefore deleted the Google history from his mobile phone.

"However, while opening his handset, the murder and rape of a 3-year-old girl popped up. He was watching minor girl's rape and murder cases in internet in order to find ways to escape it," he said.

"I had heard of cases where accused tried to have intercourse with corpses. But this is for the first time in my career as a policeman I came face to face with such an instance of pervert sexual assault," he said.

The SIT chief said that the accused youth's younger sister happened to be a close friend of the victim who used to visit his home to eat berries (Jamun) from their backyard. On July 14 the victim had visited his house when others were not at home, Bothra said.

"The accused had watched porn videos on his mobile phone throughout the night of July 13. Next day he was all alone at home as his sister and mother were out on work. He had lost his father some years ago. The accused has confessed to have committed the crime instantly and had no prior plan," Bothra said.

The SIT chief said as evidence, the team has detected the youth's semen in the dress of the victim which was put in the sack before being dumped near a pond in the backyard of the girl's house. He later took the girl's leggings and threw it in the same pond.

The SIT a few days ago had picked up a college student from the village along with two women members of his family for questioning. The investigating team released the two women but the male person is still in its custody.

The arrested person who was booked under various sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act will be produced before a court on Monday, the statement said.

The minor girl went missing while playing near her house on July 14 and her skeletal remains were found in a gunny bag in the backside of her house on July 23.

The incident came to fore after her parents attempted self-immolation in front of the state assembly in Bhubaneswar on November 24. The state government recently ordered a high court-monitored SIT investigation after the issue rocked the assembly for several days.

The opposition BJP has been demanding a CBI probe and dismissal of Agriculture Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo charging him with shielding the prime accused in the little girl''s kidnap and murder case.

The saffron party on Sunday launched a five-day-long march from Bhubaneswar to Nayagarh demanding justice for the victim''s family.