Andhra Pradesh police have apprehended two male relatives of one of the three minor boys accused of gang-raping a eight-year-old girl and discarding her body in a canal, according to officials on Tuesday. The incident reportedly took place on July 7 in Mucchumarri village, where the boys allegedly assaulted the girl and then pushed her into the Mucchumarri Lift Irrigation Canal.
The victim was last seen playing in a local park. The minors involved in the case are aged 12 nd another minor was 13.
On the case, Nandyal Superintendent of Police Adhiraj Singh Rana stated that the father and uncle of one of the boys were arrested for concealing and destroying evidence. "We arrested the two men on Monday and produced them in a local court, which sent them on remand," Rana told PTI. The minors involved were also presented in a juvenile court.
After the assault, according to authorities, the boys allegedly strangled the girl, carried her body on a bicycle for some distance.
The police reported that the accused's father and uncle, fearing their children would face legal repercussions, transported the girl's body on a two-wheeler, tied it to a rock and threw it into the Krishna River backwaters, as per a report on PTI.
During the investigation, police discovered that the three minors had a history of regularly watching pornography. Additionally, the adults involved in the case have previous criminal records.
The juvenile court is currently hearing the case, and the boys may be sent to an observation home. On Tuesday morning, police reconstructed the crime scene and focused their search on a specific area to locate the body.
The search operation involves six police teams, expert swimmers, dog squads, drone cameras, technical teams, and personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
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