Indian held for alleged rape attempt on a minor Nepali girl

An Indian construction worker has been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl in Nepal's Lalitpur district, the police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on March 20 when the Holi festival was being celebrated in the country, they said.

Ranjan Mandal, 25, a daily-wage labourer from Bihar, lured the girl, a resident of Lubhu of Lalitpur district near Kathmandu, with chocolates and took her to a two-storied n under-construction building allegedly with an intention to rape her, the Lalitpur Metropolitan Police said.

But the girl, a class 2 student, manage to escape from the spot when she saw the man taking off his pants, the police said.

The girl, out of fear, did not speak about the incident for a few days but told her parents about it on Tuesday when they enquired about her missing pair of sandals, which she had left at the site before running away from there, they said.

A case of attempt to rape has been filed against Mandal, who has came to Kathmandu for a few months ago, they added.

The girl was taken for a medical check-up to a hospital in Kathmandu and her medical reports are awaited, the police said.

Meanwhile, Lalitpur District Court has remanded Mandal to five-day judicial custody.