In Firozabad, a 53-year-old man was arrested for allegedly strangling a 10-year-old girl after his attempt to sexually assault her failed. The girl went missing while grazing goats, and her body was later found in a millet field with strangulation marks.

AGRA: A 53-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly strangling a 10-year-old girl to death in Firozabad after failing in his attempt to sexually assault her, said police.On Aug 27, the girl, a Class 2 student, had gone to graze goats after her father gave her his mobile phone and went home for a tea break. When he returned, she was missing and the phone was switched off.SP (city) Ravi Shanker Prasad told TOI, “The accused is a drug addict. During interrogation, he confessed to luring the girl into a millet field to rape her. When he failed, he strangled her with a rope, fearing she would tell her family, and hid her body in the field before fleeing with her phone.”Based on the written complaint by the girl’s father, an FIR was filed under BNS section 137(2) (kidnapping) at Rajavali police station. Hours later, her body was recovered from the millet field, with strangulation marks on her throat. BNS sections 103(1) (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence) and relevant provisions of the Pocso Act were later added.SHO Brij Kishore Singh told TOI that the girl’s family are shepherds with many goats, while the accused, a labourer, lives with his wife and married children in the same area. He was arrested from a canal embankment track. Police also recovered the mobile phone the girl was carrying from him.