Police arrested two persons in connection with the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Biratnagar-8, Morang.

Police investigation showed that Rupmati Das, also called Guddi, was raped and murdered by her neighbours. Guddi had gone to a neighbour’s house to watch television on the night of January 26. The next day, her naked body was found floating in the nearby Singhiya River in Baluwahi, Birat-nagar, around 600 metres away from her home.

Following a week-long investigation, Morang Police arrested Abbas Ansari, 25, and Chandu Mahato, 19, for their alleged involvement in the crime. The suspects are Guddi’s neighbours.

 Guddi never reached her neighbour’s house on the night of January 26, police said. She was kidnapped midway by Ansari and Mahato. The investigation also revealed that Ansari had attempted to rape Guddi’s aunt, Manju Devi, on the same day.

The culprits have confessed to the crime. In a statement to police, they admitted to kidnapping Guddi from outside her house, after which they took her to an open ground nearby and took turns to rape her. “The accused strangled the girl to death after the rape,” said DSP Manoj Kumar KC. “They stripped her clothes and disposed her body into the river.”

The rape and strangulation was also confirmed by an autopsy report conducted by BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan. said KC,