55-yr-old agarabathi unit owner rapes 6-yr-old girl

Eluru: A 55-year-old person raped a six-year-old girl at his incense stick industry in Devarapalli village in the district. Though the incident occurred on Tuesday night, it came to light on Wednesday.

According to police, G Nagaraju migrated from Vizianagaram five years ago to eke out a living. He established an agarbathi (incense sticks) manufacturing unit in the village while staying in Chandrababu Naidu Colony. Most of the workers in the industry are children.

On Tuesday night, a six-year-old girl of the same colony went to the agarbathi industry to purchase agarabthi packets.  Nagaraju called her into the industry and took her to a room. Later, he raped her. The girl, who returned home, complained to her parents at about 11 pm of abdominal pain. When the parents asked her what happened, she told them about the incident at the agarbathi industry.

Parents along with local people immediately rushed to to Devarapalli police station and lodged a complaint against Nagaraju.  The police shifted the girl to Kakinada Government Hospital for medical examination. The accused Guruswamy is at large and a hunt is going on for him, police said. The accused used to take Ayyappa deeksha every year and hence he is also called Guruswamy by the people in the vicinity.