A 14-year-old boy has been arrested for allegedly raping a four-year-old girl and murdering her in Bagmati Rural Municipality Ward No. 7 of Makwanpur on Wednesday evening, police said.

According to Superintendent of Police Sushil Singh Rathaur, the alleged perpetrator took the child to the banks of the Mansahi stream near their settlement and committed the crime. “The incident occurred at around 8 pm on Wednesday,” he said.

The victim had gone to her neighbour’s house with her parents to attend a puja ceremony. After she went missing from the venue, the villagers looked for her and recovered her body on the banks of the stream.

The body was taken to Hetauda Hospital for autopsy.

“The girl got separated from her parents in the crowd,” said Tsering Lama, a local. “Soon the villagers began looking for her and recovered her body around 90 minutes after she was lost.”

The accused is a ninth-grader at a local school. According to Bibek Tamang, another local, the 14-year-old accused is an alcoholic. “The boy started working after his school shut down because of the lockdown, He started earning money and soon started to drink excessively,” he said. “I met him during the puja and he was drunk.”

Deputy Superintendent of Police Indra Bahadur Rana, said, “The suspect confessed to his crime during preliminary investigation. Detailed investigation is on.”

“We detained two persons the same night. But there was enough evidence for us to suspect the 14-year-old boy committed the crime. The boy was under the influence of alcohol when we detained him,” said Rana. “The accused hid the body of the girl in a bush some 40 ft away from the place where he raped and murdered her.”

The incident site lies in the eastern part of the district, around 38 kilometres from Hetauda.

The victim’s family has demanded legal action against the criminal. “My four-year-old girl was raped and beaten to death. The criminal should be given a harsh punishment,” said the victim’s father, Sher Bahadur Pakhrin.

According to the District Police Office, four child rape cases have been reported in Makwanpur district in the past four months. Eight similar cases were reported in the last fiscal year. “Drug abuse and consumption of alcohol are rampant in Makwanpur. The perpetrators were found to be under the influence of drug or alcohol in almost all cases of rape,” said Rana.