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Bihar migrant labourer murders 5-year-old girl in Karnataka, killed in police encounter

The Karnataka Police suspect the child was raped before she was killed but were awaiting post-mortem reports to confirm the same.

The accused, identified as Ritesh Kumar, was a native of Patna in Bihar.

A migrant labourer from Bihar accused of killing a five-year-old girl died in a police encounter in Karnataka’s Hubballi on Sunday. The police suspect the child was raped before she was murdered but were awaiting post-mortem reports to confirm the same.

The accused, identified as Ritesh Kumar, 35, was a native of Patna in Bihar.

N Shashi Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Hubballi-Dharwad city, said Ritesh Kumar was shot as he tried to attack the police in a bid to escape. The police shot Ritesh Kumar in his leg and back. He was declared “brought dead” when he was taken to Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute-Hubballi.

The police commissioner added that Ritesh Kumar had been working as a labourer in Hubballi for the last two to three months.

According to the police, Ritesh Kumar lured the child with chocolates on Sunday morning. The child’s father is a painter and the mother a housemaid. The mother had taken the child to the house where she worked, and the child was playing outside when the accused spotted the girl and took her away.

When the mother found that the girl was missing, she immediately raised an alarm. The locals searched for the kid and found her body in a desolate area in Adhyapaka Nagar in Hubballi.

After the news of the girl’s death spread, several residents in the city staged a protest demanding action against the accused. Meanwhile, CCTV footage of Ritesh Kumar carrying the child also went viral.

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Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, who is the local MP from the Dharwad constituency, took to X to condemn the murder of the girl.

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