The accused was arrested within hours after the incident (Representational)
A man has been arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a five-year-old girl in Dhanbad district, the police said adding that the accused was the neighbour of the victim and also the friend of her elder brother.
The 21-year-old man had taken the girl to a wedding nearby on Saturday but he returned home an hour later without the girl, the police said.
The body of the girl was recovered a distance away from her home on Sunday, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Ashutosh Shekhar said.
The accused was arrested after the incident and he was remanded to judicial custody yesterday. During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime, police said.
After committing the crime, the man had hidden the body but the police recovered it on the basis of leads provided by him, the SP said. The victim's father, a daily wager working in a colliery, registered a case after the family members failed to trace the girl on Saturday.