Jabalpur: Two men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly raping and killing a two-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district, the police said.
The incident had taken place last month near Shahpura village, 45 km from here.
Sonu Thakur alias Sonu Gond (21) and Shubham Mallah (20) were arrested for kidnapping, raping, and killing the girl, said district superintendent of police S Bahuguna.
The father of the victim girl had lodged a complaint on September 17 after the girl went missing during the previous night.
The child’s body was found on the boundary wall of an agricultural field at Nachankheda, a few kilometers away from Shahpura, on September 18.
An autopsy revealed that the girl had been raped and smothered.
To crack the case, a special investigation team was set up and a reward of Rs 20,000 was announced for information, the SP said.
The probe led to the arrest of Gond and Mallah, he said, adding that they were booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and Protection of Children From Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.