COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore rural police on Sunday arrested a 34-year-old man for raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl at Kasthurinaickenpudur near Pannimadai last Monday.K Santhoshkumar, a neighbour, took her to the house of his grandmother — who mysteriously died on the same day — and strangled her during the rape, police sources said.According to police, the man had moved to his grandmother’s house, from Uliyampalayam near Thondamuthur, after the death of his grandfather two months ago.Man took injured girl home on the pretext of helping herA police officer said, “The man was working as an assistant for an interior decorator. He got married five years ago and his wife separated from him within a month. After his grandfather, who was staying at Kasthurinaickenpudur, died, he has been staying with his 70-year-old grandmother for the last two months. The victim, who lived next door, used to play with him. On the evening of March 25, the girl, who was playing in front of her house, fell down. Santhoshkumar rushed to the spot and carried her to his grandmother’s house, where he raped her. When she began to cry, he gagged her and strangulated her to death,” a police officer said.Meanwhile, the parents and relatives of the girl had launched a search to find her. “Santhoshkumar kept the body in a gunny bag and dumped it in a room. His grandmother, whose health suddenly deteriorated, died around 9pm. Officers suspect that he may have killed his grandmother, who may have witnessed the crime.“As many as 20 people were gathered in the two-room thatched house after the grandmother passed away. They must have entered the house. It is difficult to believe that no one noticed the body,” an officer said.A team that conducted a door-todoor search for the missing girl, did not search the house. After searching for the girl till 2am, Tuesday, the search party disbanded. Around 5am, Santhoshkumar came out of the house and dumped the body near the victim’s house. He covered her face with a T-shirt bearing the logo ‘BS Academy’,” the officer told TOI.Santhoshkumar confessed to the crime to one of the14 special teams of the rural police, which were interrogating the neighbours. Police later took him to a shop at Gandhipuram, from where he had bought the Tshirt a few months ago.

Stay updated with all the Chennai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.