Man accused of sexually assaulting 9-year old girl in AP hangs himself

A 55-year-old man, who allegedly sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in Dachepalli village in this district on Wednesday night, committed suicide today, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa said.

The body of the man was found hanging from a tree near a temple at Daida village and local villagers identified him, Rajappa, who visited Dachepalli this afternoon to meet the kin of the girl in Guntur, announced.

Rajappa said he received information that the body of an elderly man was found hanging from a tree and police was immediately sent to the spot.

He later confirmed to the media that the deceased was the accused, Annam Subbaiah, in the sexual assault case.

Earlier, there were reports that a body was found in river Krishna bordering Telangana and it could be that of the accused.

Police deployed drone cameras to trace the body but to no avail.

Earlier in the day, Rajappa and other ministers visited the Government General Hospital in Guntur where the girl is recovering.

They handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh as compensation from the state government to the girl's family.

Later, Rajappa told reporters that effective steps would be taken to prevent such heinous crimes.

Subbaiah, a rickshaw-puller, lured the girl who stayed near his house and sexually assaulted her on Wednesday night.

The incident caused a stir in Dachepalli as irate villagers blocked traffic on the Addanki-Narketpalli highway for several hours and a bandh was observed on Thursday demanding stern action against the accused.

Director General of Police M Malakondaiah visited the village this morning to take stock of the situation.

The incident comes amid outrage over the Kathua incident in which an eight-year old girl was allegedly held captive, tortured and raped before being killed.