The Cuttack rural police on Friday arrested one Durga Prasad Das of Tarito village under Kishornagar police station, about 15 km from here, claiming that the 35-year-old unemployed and unmarried youth is the only accused in the Monday’s rape and murder of a 15-year-old local girl.
The body of the girl was retrieved from a canal on Tuesday with multiple injuries and a deep wound on the back of her head.
Speaking to newsmen on Friday, the Cuttack rural police SP Gurudas Kundu said Das had admitted of killing the girl but denies of raping her. “We are still waiting for the post- mortem report of the girl and medical examination of the arrested youth to ascertain whether the girl was raped or not,” Kundu said, adding that the circumstantial evidence suggests that the girl was raped on the day.
Police said preliminary investigations reveal that the youth took the extreme step after the girl allegedly spurned his proposal to marry him. The police, however, have detained another person of the locality in this connection and said further arrests in this case cannot be ruled out.