The main accused lured the 8-year-old girl inside his house in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh where he raped her and later strangled her to death.

New Delhi: In a horrifying incident, an 8-year-old girl was found murdered at her neighbour’s house in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district. According to the police, the minor victim was raped before being strangled by the two accused men who have now been arrested.

A senior police official said the accused stuffed the body of the child in a gunny bag inside their house which was later recovered by the cops upon a search of the premises on Wednesday. He said that the victim’s autopsy confirmed that she was sexually assaulted and later strangled to death.

“A panel of three doctors who conducted the postmortem of the eight-year-old girl has confirmed that the victim was sexually assaulted and later strangulated to death,” Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani told news agency PTI.

Two accused — Suhaleyheen (20) and his brother Rizwan (18) — were arrested on Wednesday and sent to jail on Thursday. Their third brother, who is a minor, was also held but let go after questioning, the police said, adding that the main accused Suhaleyheen, has confessed to the crime.

During interrogation, Suhaleyheen revealed that he gave the child Rs 20 to buy ‘paan masala’ and a packet of chips and when the girl returned to his house with the said items, he lured her inside where he raped her and later strangled her to death.

Later, the main accused, with his brother Rizwan’s help, stuffed the body inside a gunny bag and hid it in their house, police said.

A murder case was lodged against the duo on Wednesday and based on the findings of the post-mortem report, they have now also been booked for rape along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police said.

The girl went missing from her house in the Kotwali police station area of Aligarh on Tuesday. The breakthrough came after police scanned CCTV footage, which showed her entering her neighbour’s house, the SSP had said on Wednesday.

(With PTI inputs)