Minor raped, murdered; locals beat up accused, set his house afire

In a tragic incident, a minor from Ekbalpore was allegedly raped and then murdered by one of her neighbours triggering tension in the area.

After the matter came to light, an irate mob caught the accused and thrashed him up. The locals also set his house on fire where he allegedly had committed the crime. Police said the victim came out of her house for cycling on Monday evening after which she went missing.

As she did not return home till late evening her family members started searching in the nearby areas. They called up other family members to check if she had gone to their houses. But they came to know that the girl had not gone to any of her relative's houses.

On Tuesday morning, local residents started conducting an extensive search and later found her body inside a house situated next to her own. Police added that the accused, identified as Goutam Singh, lured her to his room and tortured her before committing the murder. The victim also did not raise a protest as he was known to the girl.

The locals told the police that the accused locked his room after committing the crime and joined the searching operation initiated by the others.

The biggest question that came up is how could a person can maintain his cool and join the search party that was looking for him after he tortured and then murdered a minor girl. Goutam told the family members that child lifters might have stolen the girl and hence it would be difficult to find her.

This aroused the suspicion of some of the locals who asked the accused to open the lock of his house.

Following tremendous pressure, the accused opened the door of his house and the matter came to light. Police said that there were injury marks on the girl's body which suggested that she tried to prevent the accused.

The agitated mob beat up the accused and set the houseon fire after the cops reached the spot and sent the body for postmortem. Police are yet to ascertain how the victim was murdered. A detailed probe has been initiated in this regard.