A 60-year-old Indian man has killed himself after admitting to the brutal rape of a nine-year-old girl.
Police launched a hunt for the rickshaw driver after the attack in the rural town of Dachepalli of Guntur district on Wednesday (local time).
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"The man lured the girl by inviting her into his house offering chocolates," a local police officer said.
Locals found the child unconscious and alerted police, who took her to hospital and began a manhunt for the suspect.
He fled, triggering massive protests in the state. In retaliation, locals burned his house, attacked his son and demanded he be arrested and hanged in the street.
The suspect's body was found hanging in a forest. Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister (home) of N China Rajappa, told Times of India it was believed to be suicide.
Guntur police told Hindustan Times the man had expressed remorse to a relative before killing himself.
It was the latest attack on children to spark outrage in India. Last month the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl caused widespread anger.
Four of the six men who were arrested for her rape and murder were police officers, the BBC reported, one of whom allegedly helped search for the girl after she was reported missing.
The gruesome case provoked fury from many Indians on social media, some of whom compared it to the 2012 rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in Delhi.
Swati Maliwal, chief of Delhi Commission for Women, has announced she will fast indefinitely to demand safety for woman and children in India.
Newshub.
