A five-year-old girl, who was found buried in a paddy field in Bangang Municipality of Kapilvastu on August 30, was murdered by a nine-year-old boy, investigators have said.

Police Inspector Bishnu Pokharel, who was involved in the investigation, said on Wednesday that the boy confessed during interrogation that he had

strangled the girl to death after she taunted him for having curly hair while returning home from school on the afternoon of August 29.

The post-mortem report of the girl mentions that she had also been raped.  

The boy had confided the incident to his mother and sister. It was the mother who buried the girl’s body, Pokharel said.

She and her neighbour have been taken to custody for investigation.

Meanwhile, the boy has been handed over to the care of relatives after his statement was recorded in District Court.

Pokharel said they had not once thought during the initial days of the investigation that a little boy could have committed the crime.   

The investigation was going nowhere until we noticed something

suspicious about the boy who went to the same school with the girl, he added.