Ghaziabad: Police have arrested a 19-year-old rickshaw puller in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old girl whose body was recovered from a farmhouse under Muradnagar police station limits in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Originally from Barabanki, the accused has been identified as one Mahajan who was a neighbour and distant relative of the victim.

In their complaint to the police, the girl's parents claimed that neither of them was home on Saturday morning. The victim was playing outside her home along with her three siblings when the accused lured her to a farmhouse, a police official familiar with the investigation told Times of India. He panicked after he raped the minor girl and strangled her to death owing to the fear that she would identify him in front of the police, added the officer.

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Going by reports, the parents returned home and launched a frantic search for their missing daughter but could not find her which is when they approached city police. A complaint was then lodged in this regard at the Muradnagar police station on Saturday night. Police officers discovered the girl's body in a farmhouse the next day. Her body was taken to a hospital in the area where a medical examination confirmed rape.

An investigation was launched to identify and nab the perpetrator which led police to the victim's neighbour and distant relative, Mahajan. Superintendent of police (SP), rural Ghaziabad Neeraj Kumar Jadaun told the national daily that police suspected Mahajan's role in the heinous crime since the very same day they discovered the girl's body. However, the arrest came only on Tuesday after investigators questioned Mahajan and he confessed to his crime.

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The accused told police officials that he panicked after raping the girl and strangled her to death in an attempt to silence her from identifying him in front of the police. He was booked under sections 302, 201, 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with section 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. As per the latest reports, Mahajan was produced before a court and sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody.