Rajgangpur in Sundargarh district witnessed a shocking crime when the body of a seven-year-old girl was recovered from a forest area after she was raped and murdered.
The incident occurred in Dudhi village under Maldihi panchayat.
The girl, a second-grade student, had been staying at her uncle’s house while her father worked outside the state. She went missing on March 9 while playing near her home. Her family searched extensively but failed to trace her. On March 10, her uncle lodged a missing persons complaint at the Rajgangpur police station.
Police launched an intensive investigation under the supervision of Sundargarh SP Amritpal Kaur. Teams led by Additional SP K.P. Mishra and SDPO Bibhuti Bhusan Bhoi, along with local officers, searched the area with sniffer dogs. During questioning, suspicion fell on a villager, Michael Kindo, aged 24.
Kindo attempted to flee when police confronted him, but was caught. During interrogation, he confessed to luring the girl, committing rape, and strangling her to death. He later hid the body inside a stone quarry nearly four kilometres away. Police recovered the body and sent it for a post-mortem before handing it over to the family.
Authorities confirmed that further investigation is underway.
