The accused fled the area after the incident and he was arrested later, cops said. (Representational)
A 22-year-old engineering student was arrested on Wednesday over the death of a four-year-old boy in Odisha's Ganjam district, police said.
The boy was found in blood on the terrace of his neighbour's house on Tuesday.
As per preliminary investigation, the engineering student had sexually assaulted the boy and fearing arrest, smashed the boy's head with an iron door of the under-construction house, a police officer said.
The accused fled the area after the incident and he was arrested near Aska, its SDPO Uma Shankar Singh said.
He said the exact cause of the death could be ascertained only after getting the post-mortem report.
The incident came to light after the victim's parents did not find the boy in the house for long hours and later spotted the boy in the pool of blood on the terrace of the neighbour's house. He was taken to a community health centre in Dharakote, where the doctor declared him dead.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Rabindra Mishra appealed to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to direct the state government to take stringent action against the accused and pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the victim's parents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)