Four men were arrested on Wednesday, 24 November, for the alleged gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old minor girl in Karnataka's Mangalore. The incident reportedly took place on Sunday, 21 November.
All the four accused have been booked under Section 5 (Aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and under Sections 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The accused have been identified as Jayban (21), Mukesh Singh (20), Muneem Singh (20), and Manish Tirki (33). The FIR, accessed by The Quint, states that the four men allegedly 'confessed' to raping the child before murdering her.
What Happened?
The family of the girl works at Raj tile factory in Thiruvail area near the outskirts of Mangalore in Karnataka – the same place where the four accused also work.
The incident occurred on 21 November when the child had gone out to play at around 12 pm in the noon. According to the FIR, the accused took the minor girl to a room in the factory premises and gang-raped her. They went on to strangulate and murder the child, the FIR added.
The accused reportedly threw the girl's body in a sewer.
The police said that there were no CCTV cameras in the area where the incident occurred.
The incident came to the fore after the girl's family could not find her and filed a complaint with the police. The girl's body was recovered at around 6 pm in a drain.
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