An eight-year-old girl in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal district was gang-raped and murdered allegedly by three school seniors, all minors. Later, they dumped her body in a canal to destroy evidence, the police said.The victim was a Class 3 student, and two of the accused, aged 12, are studying in the sixth standard. The third boy, aged 13, is in Class 7.The incident occurred in Pagidyala on Sunday, but the crime came to the fore on Wednesday after the police arrested the suspects. Despite extensive searches in Muchumarri Park and interrogations of locals for leads, the police were unable to locate the girl. They then deployed a sniffer dog to aid in the search.
Now Deputy CM of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan has expressed shock over the incident. The superstar said, "It was a deep shock for me, reading about it. Even the perpetrators are minor. That is quite disturbing for me. It is not about physical education, young minds are getting corrupted, getting spoiled for multiple reasons...It will be dealt with severe punishment at the school level, I think that culture has to be conveyed to them...
"The Class 3 student had been missing from Sunday and his father had filed a missing complaint at the local police station. He had told police that the girl was playing at Muchumarri park, but did not return home later. Police launched a search and questioned local residents, but could not find her.A sniffer dog led police to the three minor boys. Two of them are Class 6 students, aged 12, and one is in Class 7 and is 13. All three are students of the same school to which the girl went. During questioning, the boys admitted to raping and murdering the girl, police have said.