Kodagu, May 11 (IANS): In connection with the horrifying incident of beheading of a teenage girl, the Karnataka Police found the severed head of the beheaded minor girl on a mango tree on Saturday in Kodagu district of the state.

The victim 16-year-old Meena was hacked to death by the accused 32-year-old Prakash a.k.a Omkarappa on Thursday following the cancellation of their engagement. The gruesome incident took place in Surlabbi near Kumabaragadige village in Kodagu district.

The accused had beheaded the victim with a machete and had escaped with her severed head to the forest.

Earlier, there were reports that the accused committed suicide by hanging from a tree after committing the crime. However, police said that the accused had not committed suicide and was arrested from Somwarpet town in Kodagu district.

“The accused was hiding in the forest,” the police said.

The accused then led the police to the spot where he had kept the severed head of the girl after the preliminary investigation.

The accused told police that he was distraught after the cancellation of his engagement with the victim. He had confessed that he committed the crime after a heated argument with the girl in the forest.

The police said that the head was kept on the branch of a mango tree located 300 metres away from the spot, where he killed the girl. The dog squad and police personnel who had launched the search operation throughout the Friday, could not find the severed head.

“The severed head has been recovered without any major damage,” the police said.

The preliminary probe has also revealed that the accused had pre-planned the murder. He had come to the residence of the girl and sent her two brothers to his village. Later, he barged inside the house when the girl was alone with her parents and committed the crime.

Prakash also attacked the victim’s parents. The victim was celebrating the passing of her class 10th board exams before the tragedy struck.

Sources said the man was reportedly enraged after the two families mutually decided to postpone their marriage until the girl turned major.

The engagement was put off after the intervention of the Women and Child Welfare Department on Thursday. After the development, there was a phone conversation between the victim and the accused. The victim had told the accused that she would not marry until she turned 18 years which enraged the accused.

Officials from the department had maintained that they obtained an undertaking from the victim's parents not to marry off their daughter until she turned 18. It received information about the engagement after getting a call on its helpline.