7-year-old girl raped, killed in Bhiwandi town, accused held

Thane, Dec 23: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed by a 30-year-old man from her neighbourhood who smashed her head with a stone near Bhiwandi town in Thane district of Maharashtra, police said on Sunday, adding that the accused has been arrested.

The body of the victim, who was a class 2 student, was found on Sunday morning, police said, adding that the incident occurred on Saturday night.

The accused Bharat Kumar Kori (30), who works as a porter, lives in Subhash Nagar area of Karivali village near Bhiwandi, where the victim also resided. "On Saturday night, Kori kidnapped the girl from outside her house.

Thereafter, he took her to an isolated spot nearby and raped her," Bhiwandi DCP Rajkumar Shinde said.

After the sexual assault, Kori smashed the girl's head with a stone before fleeing the spot, he said.

"A passerby found the body lying in the bushes in the morning and alerted the police," he said. The post-mortem report confirmed that the girl was raped before her murder, the DCP added.

During the probe, the police zeroed in on Kori and arrested him on Sunday morning, he added. According to police, the father of the girl runs an eatery in the locality.

A case was registered against Kori under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 376 (rape), 302 (Punishment for murder) and also under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Bhoiwada police station.