On the run for 18 years, man arrested for rape and murder of 5-year-old girl in Palghar

Palghar (Maharashtra), Dec 13 (PTI) A man has been arrested from Uttar Pradesh for allegedly raping and brutally murdering a five-year-old girl in the district 18 years ago, Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) Police said on Saturday.

The crime had taken place in the Manikpur police station limits, said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madan Ballal.

Nandlal alias Nandu Ramdas Vishwakarma, then 22, was nabbed from his village Khardauri in Siddharth Nagar district of UP on December 10, he said.

Vishwakarma was accused of luring away the girl by promising her a chocolate sometime between 11 pm on March 31, 2007, and 8 am the next day, raping and beating her, and subsequently strangling her.

"He escaped to Nepal after the incident and stayed there for a long time. He returned to UP recently and was working as a laborer at a brick kiln," said senior inspector Aviraj Kurhade.

The Crime Detection Cell-2, Vasai, which was carrying out a parallel probe along with the local police station, received a tip-off a few days ago that he was hiding in his native village. A team was sent to Khardauri and Vishwakarma was arrested, the inspector added. PTI COR KRK