According to authorities on Monday, a 17-year-old teenager has been detained for allegedly killing and sexually abusing a nine-year-old child in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu.
The case was first registered as a suspicious death, but police later added charges of murder and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act after their investigation.
Late on June 27, the victim—a Class 4 student and the son of a daily wage laborer in agriculture—was discovered dead close to a pond in Karukkakurichi hamlet, close to Karambakudi, approximately 100 meters from his home. Around 6:30 p.m., he had gone out to play with friends. The child was discovered without his pants and with cuts on his face and neck, according to the police.
Investigators examined the spot with the help of a sniffer dog. A breakthrough came on the morning of June 28, when children who had been playing with the victim told investigators that the 17-year-old suspect, who is from the same area, had taken the younger boy away shortly before he went missing. Based on this information, police picked up the teenager for questioning.
"The child admitted during the investigation that he had attempted to approach the nine-year-old sexually. He killed the youngster by strangling him with a rag when he struggled and attempted to flee, according to a police source. On Monday morning, the accused, a minor, was placed in a home for young people who are in trouble with the law.
Police said the death, first treated as suspicious under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, has now been turned into a murder case with provisions of the Pocso Act, following the alleged confession and the findings of the investigation.
