The accused is originally from Jharkhand and had been living near her home.

ACP Balasaheb Kopnar, Maval, Pune, confirmed on Monday that the accused has confessed to the murder of a girl child, who had gone missing on Saturday evening.

 The police officer told the news agency ANI that after receiving a call about the missing child, a thorough investigation was carried out, and CCTV footage was checked.

During the investigation, it was found out that a person identified as Sameer Kumar Mandal, aged 32, had taken the victim away between 6:45 pm and 8:00 pm on the pretext of giving her a chocolate, the officer said.

The accused has now allegedly confessed to the murder.

“When we took him into custody and interrogated him, it was revealed that he had murdered her. We have sent the victim's body for a post-mortem,” ACP Balasaheb Kopnar confirmed.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the girl child, 5 years old, went missing on Saturday evening and was later found sexually abused and murdered in bushes near her home in Shirgaon, Maval taluka, on Sunday.

The accused is originally from Jharkhand and had been living near her home. 

“The accused works as a labourer in a private company and lives near the victim’s home. He killed the child by strangulation and later disposed of her body in the nearby area,” Balasaheb Kopnar, ACP of the Dehuroad division, is quoted as saying in the report.

Vishal Patil, senior police inspector at Shirgaon Parandwadi police station, cited in the HT report, said that the victim’s parents work as labourers, and the child was at home with her elder brother before the incident.

The accused has been booked under the section of 137(2), 64(1), 65(2), 103(1), of the BNS and sections 4, 5 (I), 5 (M), 6, 8, 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and further investigation is underway, HT report said.

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