Pune Rural Police Form SIT in Junnar 9-Year-Old’s Rape-Murder Case, Chargesheet in Two Weeks

Pune, 26th August 2026: Pune Rural police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the rape and murder of a nine-and-a-half-year-old girl in a village of Junnar taluka on August 18. A chargesheet is expected within 15 days of the incident.

The 25-year-old neighbour, a farm labourer, was arrested soon after the crime. He allegedly lured the child with the promise of guavas while she was watching television at home with other children; her family was away. He took her about 1.5 km away to a sugarcane field beside a stream, raped her and strangled her to death around 2 pm.

The accused was produced in court the next day and remanded to 13 days’ police custody. The SIT is led by the local police station in-charge under the supervision of the Additional SP and DSP, with dedicated support staff. Pune Rural SP Sandeep Singh Gill is monitoring the probe daily.

Police have invoked BNS sections 103 (murder), 64 (rape), 65(2) (rape of a child under 12), 137(2) and 140 (kidnapping), along with POCSO sections 4, 6, 8 and 12.

The case comes months after a special fast-track court sentenced a 65-year-old man to death for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in the same district, terming it a “rarest of rare” offence.