In a shocking incident, an 8-year-old girl was murdered after being abducted from a religious fair in Lohara village, Moga. Her 6-year-old sister escaped and ran nearly three kilometres to alert their parents.Police said the incident occurred on Thursday evening during the weekly fair at the Baba Damu Shah shrine in Lohara. The two sisters, daughters of migrant labourers from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, had gone to the fair to celebrate.According to the police, the accused, Manpreet Singh (24), a daily wager at a brick kiln, lured the girls by promising to buy them toys. He allegedly took both on his bicycle to an abandoned brick kiln about a kilometre from the fairgrounds.There, he allegedly used a cloth to hang the elder sister, Rubi (8, name changed), from a tree. Terrified, the younger sister, Tapas (6, name changed), fled and hid nearby.After the accused left, Tapas returned to find her sister hanging. Unable to bring her down, the 6-year-old ran nearly 3 km to her family’s home at another brick kiln to inform her parents. By the time the family and police reached the spot, Rubi had died.The Kot Ise Khan police took custody of the body. Using CCTV footage from the fair area, investigators identified the suspect.“We have arrested Manpreet Singh, a resident of Gagra village. A murder case has been registered against him. We will produce him in court today to seek remand. A thorough investigation is underway to determine the exact motive behind this heinous act,” Dharmkot DSP Sukhwinder Singh Brar said.While police declined to divulge further details, saying it would hamper the investigation, sources said rivalry between workers at the brick kiln appeared to be the primary motive.The victims’ families have lived and worked in Moga for the past two years. “We are simple labourers trying to earn a living,” said Naresh Kumar, the deceased’s uncle. “We had no personal enmity with anyone.”Police are also investigating whether there was an attempt at sexual assault before the murder, pending the full medical report.