Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy for allegedly sexually assaulting and killing a nine-year-old boy in Karukakurichi village in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai.
The victim, a fourth-grade student and the son of a daily wage agricultural worker, went missing after going out to play with his friends at around 6:30 pm on June 27. After an extensive search, his body was discovered late that night near a pond just 100 meters from his home.
The child had visible signs of injury on his face and neck, and was found partially clothed, raising immediate red flags for investigators.
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Breakthrough in the investigation
Initially, the Vadakadu police registered the case as a suspicious death under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Act. However, after a forensic examination of the crime scene with the help of a sniffer dog, the charges were changed to include murder and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, news agency PTI reported.
According to the report, the breakthrough came on the morning of June 28, when children who were playing with the victim revealed to investigators that they had seen the 17-year-old suspect, a local resident, leading the victim away shortly before he disappeared.
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Based on this evidence, police detained the teenager for questioning. A police source confirmed, “During interrogation, the suspect admitted to trying to sexually harass the nine-year-old child. When the child resisted and tried to escape, the teenager strangled him to death with a piece of cloth.”
The minor defendant was formally processed and placed in a juvenile correctional facility on Monday morning.
(With inputs from PTI)
