Bhubaneswar, Feb 27 (IANS) Angul Police on Friday arrested a youth for allegedly murdering a 12-year-old girl from his village after sexually assaulting her in the NTPC police station area of the district in Odisha.

Police arrested the 20-year-old accused, identified as Ashish Naik, within 24 hours of recovering the victim’s body.

According to police sources, based on the report lodged by the deceased minor’s family, the police officials at the NTPC Police Station initially registered a missing case(44/26) under Section 137(2) BNS (Missing) on February 26 (Thursday).

The family members stated in the complaint that the minor girl had gone to a field near her village on Thursday but did not return home.

Upon receipt of the missing report, NTPC Police immediately registered an FIR and launched an intensive search operation.

Angul Police constituted multiple search teams to intensify efforts to trace the missing minor girl. Fields, forest patches, and water bodies near the victim’s village were thoroughly combed throughout the night.

On Friday morning, the dead body was located, and the case was converted to the appropriate sections of BNS relating to rape and murder.

The senior police officials, along with the scientific Team and K9 squad, immediately reached there and examined the crime scene.

Police sources also claimed that evidence collection is underway as per forensic protocols. The district police also formed separate teams to apprehend the accused, and raids were conducted at multiple locations.

Based on sustained technical and field investigation, the accused Naik, a neighbour of the victim minor, was arrested by the police within 24 hours of the recovery of the body.

Angul police in an official press note stated that the case has been treated as a Special Report (SR) case, and the investigation has been entrusted to a DSP-rank officer for a thorough and time-bound probe.

In another sensational case, the Jagatsinghpur police on Friday arrested two persons, including the boyfriend of the victim, in connection with the rape and murder of a woman in the Paradeep area of the district.

–IANS

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