Teenager abuses girl before murder

GURUGRAM: A 16-year-old boy, who was arrested for allegedly strangling a minor girl and attempting to burn her body, admitted while in protective custody that he sexually assaulted the girl and then killed her, police said here on Friday.

After the youth confessed, the Gurugram police also added sexual assault charges to the case against him, they said. On Monday, the youth was arrested after he was caught by the girl’s mother and some neighbors in the girl’s house. They found the half-burnt bodies of the nine-year-old girl and the boy sitting in a corner, police said.

The incident took place in a residential complex in Sector 107 in Gurugram. The families of the victim and the youth lived in two separate towers within the complex, they said.

According to police, the girl’s mother was at the youth’s house when he went to the victim’s house around 11 am to steal cash and jewellery. He was caught by the girl. The youth strangled the girl and tried to burn her body using camphor from the temple complex of the house, they said.

The teenager initially claimed that two thieves broke into the house and killed the girl, but later confessed to the murder.

After his two-day protective custody, he was sent to a reformatory after being brought before the juvenile court, police said.

“He tried to deceive the police by changing his statement but eventually revealed the truth. He confessed that he had sexually assaulted the girl and then strangled her. After that, he stole jewellery and then set her on fire with camphor,” said ACP (Udyog) Naveen Kumar.

He added that the youth admitted to liking online games and had lost over Rs 20,000 on an app.

“He had borrowed Rs 20,000 from his two friends and promised to repay the amount on July 1. For this reason, he had stolen the jewellery from the victim’s house. We have recovered the boy’s laptop and mobile phone,” Kumar added.

A senior police official said that Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been added to the case. with agency information