Hyderabad, Oct 18 (IANS): A five-year-old girl was raped and murdered on the outskirts of Hyderabad and a 60-year-old migrant worker from Bihar has been arrested for the gruesome crime, police said on Wednesday.

The shocking incident occurred at Bhanur in Sangareddy district near Hyderabad.

According to police, the accused lured the girl and raped her. When the victim started crying, he throttled her to death.

The girl’s body was found in the cotton fields under the limits of BDL Bhanur police station on Monday night.

The police investigations revealed that the accused enticed the girl by offering her a soft drink. He took her to cotton fields, where he raped and murdered her.

A police officer said the victim, along with her parents and grandparents, were staying at a construction site. Her parents had recently gone to their native place, leaving their daughter in the custody of her grandparents. The grandparents had gone for work on Monday, leaving behind the child at the site.

On their return in the evening, they found her missing. A watchman at the construction site told them that he saw the girl with the migrant worker. The watchman and other workers confronted the suspect and roughed him up.

They informed the police and the accused later confessed to the crime. Police shifted the body for autopsy and arrested the accused.

Police registered a case under sections 376 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, POCSO Act, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. The accused was produced before the court, which sent him to judicial custody.