Chhattisgarh: Couple held for rape and murder of minor in Surguja

A man has been arrested for alleged rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district, police said on Wednesday.

His wife was also arrested for alleged abetment, said a police official.

Reshamlal Rathia and his wife Seema were nabbed from their native village in Raigarh district on Tuesday, he said.

The body of the girl had been found on Monday afternoon in a field under the Manipur police chowki (outpost) limits in the Surguja district, he said.

Autopsy revealed that she had been raped and strangled to death, he added.

During the investigation, police learnt that the accused couple and the girl worked as labourers at the same place near Ambikapur, headquarters of the Surguja district, and the couple had not reported to work since the incident. Police tracked them down by scrutinizing the mobile phone call record. Rathia allegedly confessed that he raped the girl on Sunday night and killed her as she threatened to tell her family about the crime.

His wife was arrested for allegedly abetting the murder and further probe is on, the official said.

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