AP man rapes, smothers six-year-old girl, places her body on a chair at grandmother’s house

A 25-year-old man was detained in Andhra Pradesh after allegedly raping and murdering a six-year-old girl. The victim’s family staged protests and a political row erupted over the incident.

The incident took place in Chadalwada village in the Prakasam district on Sunday night. The minor was staying with her grandmother as the child’s parents worked as traditional manual labourers in Hyderabad.

According to the police, the accused, a man named Anand from the same colony, allegedly approached the girl while she was sleeping beside her grandmother outside their house. He reportedly took her to an isolated area and sexually assaulted her.

The police reported that the young girl sustained severe bleeding during the assault. Anand allegedly smothered her to death in an attempt to hide the crime and subsequently placed the child’s body on a chair near her house before fleeing the scene.

The grandmother, who noticed the girl lying unconscious in the chair, alerted the neighbours. She was immediately taken to the nearby Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) hospital, where the doctors declared her dead.

The villagers searched for Anand and caught him early on Monday. They thrashed him before handing him over to the police. A case was registered, and an investigation has been launched into the incident.

The child’s family and local people from the village staged a protest on the National Highway 216 demanding justice for the child. They demanded that the accused be handed over to them and that strict action be taken to prevent this from happening to another child.  

They placed her body on the main road and refused to disperse until the authorities fulfilled their demand. The protests caused a major road blockade, with vehicles stranded for nearly three kilometres on both sides of the road. The protest was called off after officials reportedly assured them that a murder case would be filed, along with applicable charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The incident sparked a political row as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members from the ruling party’s coalition allegedly blocked the former minister and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party leader Merugu Nagarjuna, who had come to visit the victim’s family. The TDP members criticised Nagarjuna’s lack of action over the last five years. Nagarjuna alleged that the incident was caused by marijuana intoxication and demanded stricter action on drug control in the state. However, it is unclear whether the accused was under the influence of marijuana when the crime was committed.