Andhra Pradesh horror: 7-year-old raped, murdered, drowned in water drum; suspect found dead in pond

TIRUPATI: The rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl sparked public outrage at Madanapalli in Annamayya district on Tuesday. The girl, who was playing around her house at Neeruguttuvari Palli on the outskirts of Madanapalli, went missing on Monday evening.

Her parents, Gopinath and Swarna Latha, and their relatives searched everywhere and later lodged a complaint at the local police station. Madanapalli police, who analysed available CCTV surveillance footage and pressed in the dog squad, were led to the residence of one Kulavardhan, who lives close to the missing girl's house, on Tuesday morning. The girl's body was found inside a water drum close to Kulavardhan's house.

The accused/suspect was identified as Kulavardhan and was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Kanasanola Palli, near Angallu, in Kurabalakota mandal.



Kurnool range DIG Koya Praveen confirmed that the girl was brutally raped and forcibly drowned to death by the accused. "The accused is absconding and we have laid a hunt for him. A case has been booked under the Pocso Act. Police will investigate the case thoroughly and render justice to the bereaved family and the victim," he asserted.

As the news spread, scores of people from across Madanapalli, including representatives of various political parties, reached the spot and blocked the Madanapalli-Chennai highway for several hours. With the public demanding the police to arrest Kulavardhan and hand him over to them, efforts to shift the girl's body for postmortem could not materialise, as family members refused to hand over the body. Kadapa SP Shelke Nachiket Viswanath rushed to Neeruguttuvari Palli and tried to persuade the protestors, but the family did not budge.

When home minister Vangalapudi Anitha spoke to the girl's father Gopinath over phone, he told her that Kulavardhan was addicted to ganja and other vices, and has a history of harassing women. Kulavardhan also reportedly told locals that even the police can not do anything to him. It was only late in the evening that police could shift the girl's body for postmortem to the govt general hospital at Madanapalli.