migrant labourer from Bihar accused of killing a five-year-old girl died in a police encounter in Karnataka’s Hubballi on Sunday. The police suspect the child was raped before she was murdered but were awaiting post-mortem reports to confirm the same,The accused, identified as Ritesh Kumar, 35, was a native of Patna in Bihar.N Shashi Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Hubballi-Dharwad city, said Ritesh Kumar was shot as he tried to attack the police in a bid to escape. The police shot Ritesh Kumar in his leg and back. He was declared “brought dead” when he was taken to Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute-Hubballi.The police commissioner added that Ritesh Kumar had been working as a labourer in Hubballi for the last two to three months.According to the police, Ritesh Kumar lured the child with chocolates on Sunday morning. The child’s father is a painter and the mother a housemaid. The mother had taken the child to the house where she worked, and the child was playing outside when the accused spotted the girl and took her away.
