Malavalli: The case of 10-year-old girl, who left her house for tuition and her body found in a sump of an under-construction house on Mysuru Road in the town, has taken a twist and the Police investigations have revealed that the girl was sexually assaulted by her tuition teacher, murdered and the body dumped inside the water sump.

The accused tuition teacher is Kantharaju, who has been arrested by Malavalli Town Police. The Cops have booked a case against the teacher under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, for sexual assault, murder and for trying to destroy evidence.

Details: On Oct. 11 at about 10.30 am, the girl, a student of a private school, left her home saying that she was going to the tuition centre to ask about the timing of the tuition but did not return even after 1 pm.

The girl’s grandfather, who went to the tuition centre, enquired about her granddaughter with tuition teacher Kantharaju, who told that the girl had come and as she had not brought her books with her, he (Kantharaju) told the girl to go home and fetch her books. Kantharaju also questioned the girl’s grandfather whether the girl had not come home and also tried to search for the girl.

The girl’s grandfather then informed the Police about his granddaughter going missing and the Police, who went to the bakery near the tuition centre was checking the footages of the CCTV camera installed in the bakery during which they received an information about a body of a girl floating inside a water sump of an under-construction building near Lingegowda Building on Malavalli-Mysuru Road.

The Police and the girl’s grandfather then rushed to the under-construction building and on looking inside the sump, they found the body of the missing girl floating inside.

On Oct. 11 at 7 pm, the girl’s grandfather lodged a complaint stating that someone had murdered his granddaughter and dumped the body inside the water sump following which the Police registered a case against unknown person for murder and destroying evidence and took up the investigation.

The Police, who felt fishy on Kantharaju’s behaviour and also based on footages captured by the bakery’s CCTV camera, took Kantharaju into custody and subjected him to interrogation, during which Kantharaju is said to have confessed of sexually assaulting the girl and to destroy the evidence, he had dumped the body of the girl in the water sump of the under-construction building. Kantharaju is also said to have revealed that in order to make people not doubt on him, he joined with the girl’s grandfather in searching for the girl.

As soon as the news of the tuition teacher sexually assaulting the girl and murdering her spread, the residents of the town expressed their anger on the tuition teacher. Thousands of people participated in the last rites of the girl in the town.

The Police again interrogated Kantharaju and conducted spot mahazar by taking him to the crime spots. The Police, who were awaiting the post-mortem report, began collecting evidences pertaining to the case and yesterday evening, based on the preliminary post-mortem report, booked a case under POCSO Act, named tuition teacher Kantharaju as the accused and formally arrested him.