Deoria (UP), February 11 A man is alleged to have killed his six-year-old niece and dumped her body in the Jharhi River here, police said on Wednesday.
The victim's mother has filed a complaint accusing her brother-in-law, who is about 52 years old, of raping the girl before strangling her to death.
Police have taken the accused into custody, officials said.
According to the FIR filed by the victim’s mother, the girl left home around 10 am on Wednesday to attend a nearby primary school where she was in Class 2.
The accused, identified as a relative from the woman's paternal side, picked her up from school at 11 am and took her to a wheat field, where he allegedly raped her before strangling her to death and then throwing the body into the Jharhi River, according to the complaint.
Several villagers saw the accused carrying the body, following which the family rushed to the spot and recovered it from the river.
Additional SP (South) Sunil Kumar Singh said, "The girl's uncle, whom the family has named in the complaint, is being questioned. The body has been sent for post-mortem."