The Haryana Police on Sunday arrested two men for allegedly raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in Panipat district’s Urlana Kalan village. Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma said the accused – identified as Pradeep Kumar and Sagar – were her neighbours and had confessed to the crime, the Hindustan Times reported.

Sharma said the Class 6 student was reported missing on Saturday evening since she left her house to throw out the garbage. He said the police interrogated the two men as they suspected they were involved in the assault.

The accused first kidnapped the girl and took her to a deserted location on Saturday night, the Hindustan Times quoted unidentified police officers as saying. When she resisted their assault, they strangled her to death with a scarf and then raped her corpse, the police said the two men confessed. Her body was found the next day.

The Matlauda Police filed a First Information Report on the case. Station House Officer Sandeep Singh said the duo had tried to destroy evidence by burning her clothes, The Indian Express reported. The Panipat superintendent of police said officers had recovered the girl’s burnt clothes from them.