8-year-old girl raped, murdered in UP's Bulandshahr; accused lures her out with promise of golgappas

An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered after a man known to her family lured her out of her house on the pretext of treating her to golgappas in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district on Friday.A case under Sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Sikandrabad police station. (Sakib Ali/HT/ Representative)The accused, identified as Ravi Kashyap, allegedly took her to an isolated plot around 500 metres from her home, sexually assaulted her and then struck her on the head with an iron rod, killing her before fleeing.Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Abhishek Pratap Ajay said police launched an immediate search operation after receiving information about the child's disappearance. Her body was subsequently recovered with injury marks on the head.A case under Sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at Sikandrabad police station on the basis of a complaint, he said.How the incident came to lightThe incident took place in the Industrial Area police station's jurisdiction, around 30 km from the district headquarters. The accused was employed at the same factory as the girl's father. Both families lived in rented accommodation in the same building.The child went missing on Friday afternoon. When she failed to return home, her family members began searching for her and informed the police. Her body was recovered around 2 am on Saturday during the search operation.The victim's family, originally from Badaun district, took her body to their native place after the post-mortem examination for the last rites.According to ASP Abhishek Pratap Ajay, the accused is a native of Tariyan village under Chhibramau police station in Kannauj district. Police are questioning his wife in connection with the incident and conducting raids at suspected locations to arrest him.Police teams have been deployed to trace the accused, while further investigation is underway to establish the sequence of events.