A 14-month-old in Tripura was allegedly raped and murdered by a daily wage worker. The girl’s body was later found buried in a paddy field near the crime spot.

The incident happened on October 11 in the Panisagar town of the state, when the accused, a neighbour of the family, had taken the baby from her mother on the pretext of going on an outing.

News agency ANI quoted the police and said the victim had come from Assam’s Silchar to visit her maternal uncle’s home in Tripura’s Panisagar.

It also quoted local sources and the child’s family as saying that a young man from the neighbourhood had taken the toddler to his home on the pretext of feeding her rice.

A complaint in this regard was first lodged at nearly 8 pm on the day of the incident.

Commenting on the incident, Officer-in-Charge of Panisagar police station, Sumanta Bhattacharjee, told news agency PTI, “The alleged rape took place on Saturday, following which she was murdered and buried in a paddy field in the area."

The accused had taken the baby from her mother on the pretext of going on an outing, he said.

“Since he did not return the child to her mother after three hours, the parents became anxious. As the news spread, hundreds of villagers started searching for the child," the officer said.

“Her body was found buried in a paddy field. After conducting the post-mortem, it was handed over to the family," Bhattacharjee said.

Meanwhile, the accused in the case was arrested from Nilambazar in Assam.

A senior officer at Panisagar Police Station told reporters that a case had been registered against the arrested man and that multiple sections of law relating to abduction and murder have been invoked.

He will be produced before a court in Agartala on Monday, as the investigations into the case continue.

In a separate incident, a seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man in her school in Jaipur on Saturday.

The accused allegedly entered the private school and hid in a toilet where he caught the girl student and raped her. She narrated the incident to her teacher, following which the parents and police were informed.

The accused allegedly confessed to having committed the crime, and he was arrested the following day.