A month after a 17-year-old girl went missing from Karur, her highly decomposed body was recovered from a canal along the Vengamedu–Vangal Road on Friday with the police investigation revealing that it was a case of murder.

The police have arrested S. Mohanraj, 32, a ghee dealer from Nerur, in connection with the murder and are questioning the girl’s 21-year-old sister.

The girl, a resident of Vengamedu, was a Class 12 student. She went missing last month, following which her family lodged a complaint at the Vengamedu police station. The police launched an investigation and examined the call records of her sister’s mobile phone.

Based on the information gathered during the investigation, the police detained Mohanraj for questioning on Friday. According to the police, Mohanraj was allegedly in an extramarital relationship with the girl’s sister. The sister worked at a supermarket where Mohanraj supplied ghee.

The police said the girl had reportedly seen Mohanraj and her sister together at their house on August 18. Fearing that she would reveal their relationship, Mohanraj allegedly attacked the girl with an iron rod, causing her death. He and the girl’s sister allegedly took the body on a two-wheeler and dumped it in a canal along the Vengamedu–Vangal Road.

A police team searched the area for the body. Superintendent of Police D.N. Hari Kiran Prasad visited the spot and inspected the search operation.

After a four-hour search, assisted by sniffer dogs, the police recovered the girl’s decomposed body from the canal. An autopsy was conducted at the spot, and the body was handed over to the bereaved family.

The police subsequently detained Mohanraj for questioning. A case was registered under Sections 329(4), 103(1) and 238(C) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.