Kin receive body of girl who was sexually assaulted, murdered

Madurai: A day after the accused was arrested in connection with the sexual assault and murder of a 17-year-old girl in Tuticorin district, the family members received the body of the girl from the Tuticorin Govt Medical College Hospital on Friday. The body was taken to the village, where it was cremated following the rituals performed by the family members.The 17-year-old girl from a village in Tuticorin went missing on March 10 evening after she left the house to answer nature's call. Following a missing person report from her parents, police discovered her body with strangulation injuries to the neck on March 11, near her house. Kulathur police altered the girl missing case to that of a case under Section 103 (murder) of BNS and sections of the Pocso Act.Though a postmortem was completed at the Tuticorin Govt Medical College Hospital on March 12, the family members said that they would receive the body after the accused was arrested. On March 19, police arrested 38-year-old Dharma Muneeswaran alias Maveeran of Sayalkudi in Ramanathapuram district. Police traced the accused when they were analysing CCTV footage in the surrounding areas.