Chandigarh, May 26: Haryana police have arrested a youth on the charges of raping and strangulating a seven-year-old girl in a village in Palwal area of Haryana.

Local police said that the girl was allegedly raped and strangled to death by a 22-year-old youth in a village in Haryana’s Palwal district,  police said. The police said that they have booked the accused.

The incident occurred on Monday when the girl’s neighbour, Anand, lured her while her parents were not at home. He took her to a nearby field and raped her. He then killed and dumped her body in a pit.

After their return, the girl’s parents lodged a missing complaint but later her body was found. The police said during the investigation, it was found that Anand was the only person in their locality to have skipped work on the day of the incident.

He was detained and after intensive interrogation, he confessed to the crime, the police official said. The girl’s parents are daily wagers, who hail from Madhya Pradesh, police said, adding the accused, also a labourer, belongs to the same state.

A case was registered against him under sections for rape, kidnapping, and murder of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Mundkati police station, the police said.