Pallakonda Raju (30), the main suspect in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl at Saidabad, was found dead on the railway tracks near Station Ghanpur in Jangoan district of Telangana. According to a report in Hindu, on Thursday morning, the police, found Raju’s mangled body on the tracks while searching for him. “We suspect he ended his life...,” the officer said. According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 8.40 am when Raju came under Hyderabad-bound Konark Express. "Just been informed by @TelanganaDGP Garu that the beast who raped the child has been traced & found dead on a railway track at station Ghanpur," IT Minister KT Rama Rao tweeted.
A massive manhunt was launched for Raju and the Hyderabad city police have also announced a cash reward of ₹10 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of the former. As part of the massive manhunt, posters declaring Raju a 'WANTED' man were pasted on auto-rickshaws, buses, at toddy compounds, wine shops and all public places across the State. On September 9, the minor had gone missing from her home in Saidabad, and hours later, her body was recovered from Raju's house, who was her neighbour. The autopsy at Osmania General Hospital has confirmed that she was ‘sexually assaulted’ before she was strangled to death. The victim’s mother suspected Raju to be the culprit as he too was missing from his house. The heinous incident has triggered widespread outrage in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the State with various political parties and youth groups staging protests demanding justice for the minor girl. News of the death comes two days after Telangana Minister Malla Reddy's comment that the accused "will be killed in an encounter". "We will catch the rapist and murderer. There will be an encounter after he is caught," Mr Reddy had told reporters in Hyderabad on Tuesday.