Veraval (Gujarat), Jun 13 (IANS): A married youth who is the father of two children allegedly abducted an eight-year-old girl and raped and murdered her in his house. He then put the girl's body in a sack and dumped it on the outskirts of Jantrakhadi village in Gir Somnath district. The police arrested the accused late on Sunday evening.

The police will produce him in court by Monday evening and request the court to expedite the trial and ensure that the accused is convicted at the earliest and given the maximum punishment.

According to the villagers "On Sunday morning, victim Ansuya (name changed) was going to the market to buy something. The accused then abducted her, took her to his room and raped her. It is possible that while raping her, he put his hand on victim's mouth so that her screams did not alert the neighbours, and it resulted in her death due to suffocation."

Later, the accused put the body in a sack and threw it on the outskirts of the village. When the villagers were searching for the girl they found her body there.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Jat told IANS: "The moment police was informed about the incident, along with me, District Superintendent Police Manoharsinh Jadeja and entire team reached the village and started looking for the accused, and by late evening, the accused was arrested. The forensic team has collected enough evidence from the residence of the accused."

The accused's statement has been video recorded and the victim's body sent for postmortem. The accused will also undergo a medical examination.

The officers said that they will personally meet the judicial officer and request that the trial be expedited.

The accused works on a boat as a crew member in Porbandar. He is allegedly an alcoholic and a wife-beater so she had left him and returned to her parents home.

Meanwhile, the villagers gathered on Monday and demanded that the accused be paraded in the village and punished publicly. They sought the capital punishment for his crime.