Thane:
The body of a missing 9-year-old girl has been found stuffed in a box in a forest area of Thane near Mumbai.
The girl has been identified as Sanskrita Yadav. She had gone missing around 22 days ago.
The police have arrested Dashrath Yadav, the man alleged to have raped and murdered a nine year old girl. An industrial worker, Yadav was known to the victim's family and frequently visited their home.
Police say the victim was home alone on Wednesday afternoon when Yadav dropped by and offered to show her his house.
There he raped her. When she threatened to tell her family, he strangled her.
The child's body was found on in the nearby Yeor forests on Saturday after locals complained of a foul smell. She had been stuffed inside a box. And the body was badly decomposed.
"He took the girl to his house which was nearby on the pretext of showing her his house. Then he raped here there. When she started screaming for help he strangulated her with a rope he had at his place," said K P Raghuvanshi, Thane Police Commissioner.
Earlier in the week, when the police went to the victim's home to investigate the missing complaint filed by her family Yadav was present.
Suspicion fell on him when he disappeared soon after her body was found. The police tracked him down in Bandra. They believe he was trying to flee to Azamgarh where his wife lives with their two children.