Horrendous crime in Palghar: An 8-year-old girl raped and murdered

Maharashtra: An 8-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered after attending a friend's birthday party on Sunday in Maharashtra's Palghar district. The victim, a resident of a village in Mokhada taluka, failed to return home, prompting her family to initiate a search.

Tragically, the girl's body was discovered near a graveyard in the village late Sunday night. The police swiftly responded, sending the body for postmortem and launching a probe into the girl's death. Assistant Inspector Premnath Dhole of Mokhada police station led the investigation.

After working on various leads, including technical and intelligence inputs, the police arrested a 21-year-old suspect on Tuesday.

The accused, reportedly the son of a former sarpanch (village head), allegedly stalked the girl on Sunday before committing the heinous crime.

The accused has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 103(1) (murder), 65 (2) (rape of a female under 12 years of age) and 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of the victim) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Dhole said.

The mother of the accused previously held the position of local councillor, according to police reports. This horrific incident has sent shockwaves through the community, and the authorities are ensuring that justice is served.

(PTI with edits)