Man Raped Minor Girl In Front Of Mother, Killed Woman For Objecting

A man was arrested Sunday, a month after he raped a minor girl and killed her mother in the Indian state of Odisha.

Police said Bijaya Behera raped the girl in front of her mother on a hilltop May 4. When the unnamed woman objected, Behera hacked her to death and fled the scene. The incident came to light after villagers heard someone screaming for help. When they reached the hilltop, they found a woman lying dead. Her daughter too was lying beside her in a serious condition. Police arrived at the scene and rushed the girl to a nearby hospital while the woman’s body was sent for autopsy.

Police, however, could not take any action immediately as the victim was unable to speak to them. A few days later, the girl narrated the entire incident and said the accused along with his associate, identified as Vicky, forcibly lifted her from her home and took her to the hilltop. Her mother too followed them.

"They took the girl to the Deuli hilltop. The mother reached the spot following them. After reaching hill, Vicky returned home. Bijaya raped the girl before her mother and thrashed both mother and daughter black and blue. While mother died on the spot, her daughter sustained critical injuries. Basing on the victim’s statement, police arrested Vicky a couple of days after the crime was committed,” a police officer said.

Police then managed to track Behera’s phone and nabbed him in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Sunday.

"We were tracking the mobile phone of the accused regularly. We got information that the accused was in Kerala on Sunday. We immediately went Kerala by flight and arrested the accused near the aerodrome area on Sunday night," the police officer said.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to raping the minor girl as well as killing the woman. The investigation into the incident was ongoing.