MANDYA: The Malavalli police have charged Kantharaju, the tuition teacher accused of murdering a minor girl, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after the autopsy revealed that she had been raped. Kantharaju was earlier booked under IPC Section 307 for murder.
The post-mortem examination confirmed that the girl was raped and strangled. The 10-year-old girl had gone missing a couple of days ago and was later found dead under suspicious circumstances in a water sump at an under-construction building in Malavalli town.
On Tuesday, Divya called up Kantharaju to inquire the tuition class timings. He told her to come at 11.30 am though the regular tuition class was at 5 pm. When she reached the tuition centre, Kantharaju lured her with a chocolate and raped her. Fearing that the girl may reveal about the incident, he strangled her first and crushed her head with a stone. Later, he threw her lifeless body into a water sump.
The girl had already informed her parents about about attending tuitions in the morning. When she did not return in the evening, her family started searching for her and complained a missing person’s case at Malavalli police station.
When the police started preliminary investigation, Kantharaju pretended as if nothing had happened and he too joined the police search, as seen in CCTV footage. When police started interrogating Kantharaju, he revealed the truth behind the case. Kantaraju was living away from his wife and two daughters.
The parent’s of the deceased girl have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to recommend death sentence to the accused.