Man rapes and beheads a four-year-old girl before peeling off the skin of her face in India

A man raped and beheaded a four-year-old girl before peeling off the skin of her face so she could not be identified, police say.

The 27-year-old, from Khopoli town in Maharashtra, India, had wanted to have a sexual relationship with the girl’s mother, according to officers.

But he killed the child out of revenge after she rejected his advances and reprimanded him public, Indian media report.  

He severed the youngster’s head with a kitchen knife then dumped her torso about 1,000ft behind his house, police say. He is then accused of dumping her head nearby having peeled off the skin so authorities could not identify her. 

A police source told The Times of India: ‘The mother, who is hearing impaired, had warned him against entering the house. 

‘She had threatened to tell her husband about it too. The accused and the victim’s father were friends and were both from Uttar Pradesh.’

Police say the girl visited the man’s house at about 8.30am on Tuesday before he took her back to her mother.

But she is said to have publicly scolded him, prompting him to want to take revenge, the Times of India reports, adding that the man had wanted to have a sexual relationship with the woman. 

He gagged the girl while her mother was busy elsewhere in the house and took her to his house, hiding her in the kitchen, police say.

Her mother and neighbours launched a desperate search when they could not find her.

Police later found the girl’s torso and found he had tried to sexually assault the child, who also had burn injuries.