Shortly after the Fernanda rape case shocked Jharkhand, another disturbing incident emerged from Puducherry, sending shockwaves across the nation. This time, a 9-year-old schoolgirl was raped and murdered, her body discovered in a drain near her residence in the Muthialpet block.
Authorities asserted that they initiated the search for the girl immediately after her parents filed a missing complaint on Saturday. The body of the 9-year-old was discovered wrapped in a bedsheet-like material inside a drain, located just a few meters away from her residence, around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
According to reports, the girl’s hands and legs were bound with a coir thread, and her body was observed to have begun decomposing. Her remains have been transferred to the mortuary of the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Research Institute.
Additionally, the police official mentioned that the postmortem examination of the girl is taking place at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research. The girl was enrolled in Class 5 at the Government Primary School in Sholai Nagar.
Accusing the police of inaction leading to the child’s death, residents staged a road blockade on MG Road, halting vehicular movement for over two hours. Their agitation intensified when the territorial police deployed a few CISF personnel, who were in Puducherry for the Lok Sabha polls, to the protest site. Witnessing personnel in riot gear and armed, locals engaged in heated confrontations with law enforcement, leading to tension that persisted for more than two hours in the area.
Authorities have not disclosed the identity of the accused in the case. Several suspects have been taken into custody, and police stated, “We are interrogating the suspects. We expect to have a clearer picture by Tuesday night,” said an officer from the Muthialpet Police Station.