Gorakhpur (UP), Aug 10 (PTI) A man was arrested for allegedly raping and killing a three-year-old girl whose body was found in an empty plot here earlier this week, police said on Thursday.

The man had allegedly kidnapped the child from a village in the Chiluatal area on Sunday, made attempts to rape her and killed her, SSP Gaurav Grover said. He disposed off the body and fled, the SSP said.

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On Monday, the body of the child was found from an empty plot enclosed by walls.

Mithilesh Vishwakarma aka 'Mithai', a resident of Parmeshwerpur in Kritpura, was released on bail on Saturday -- the day before the crime -- in a separate case.

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Police received information on Sunday that a three-year-old girl was kidnapped while she was sleeping with her mother at her maternal grandmother's house. After finding the body on Monday, they sent it for post-mortem, police said.

The post-mortem report revealed that the girl had minor injuries in her private parts, besides an injury on her head. Based on the post-mortem report, police started investigating the matter in the village and nearby areas.

They found that a man, released on bail on Saturday, had come home but went missing soon after, police said.

Later, police detained Mithilesh and during interrogation, he admitted to the crime and provided a detailed account of the sequence of events, police said.

Police arrested the accused and sent him to jail on Wednesday evening under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 376AB (punishment for rape on woman under 12 years of age), The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)