• By Imran Zafar
  • Thu, 11 Jul 2024 02:27 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

An eight-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped and murdered by three boys, aged 12-13, in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal district. The victim, a Class 3 student, was allegedly assaulted by three of her seniors, who were studying in Class 6 and 7 at the same school in Pagidyala mandal of the district. The incident came to light after police recovered the victim’s body, which was dumped in a canal to destroy evidence. 

The girl's father filed a missing complaint on Sunday, stating that his daughter went missing while playing in the park. Despite thorough searches and interrogations of locals, the police failed to find any trace of the girl. Subsequently, they deployed a sniffer dog to assist in the search.

Based on the dog's indications, the police traced the whereabouts of three other minors. Following preliminary inquiries, the boys were taken into custody and during interrogation they reportedly confessed to molesting and murdering the girl.

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Nandyala district superintendent of police K Raghuveera Reddy said the girl, who was playing in a park on Sunday, was molested by the boys and then pushed into the Mucchumarri Lift Irrigation canal. "The incident happened on Sunday at around 5 pm. They were all from Mucchumarri village and everybody knew each other," the official said as reported by news agency PTI. 

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According to police, the three accused spotted the girl playing near the park on Sunday evening. They approached her and took her to an isolated spot near the Muchumarri project, where they gangraped her. Later, fearing arrest if the girl reported their crime to her parents, the boys pushed her into a nearby canal and fled.

Despite the ongoing police investigation into the girl’s disappearance over the last three days, the minors continued with their daily routine, acting as if nothing had happened. However, they were eventually apprehended by the police.