A SCHOOLGIRL was allegedly raped in a dumpster and offered 5p as a bribe to keep the horrific attack secret in India.

In "deep shock", the eight-year-old girl went home crying to her grandma and told her of the attack, said a top cop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

It's alleged that the youngster was sexually assaulted inside a council dumpster in Bhopal's Ayodhya Nagar area on Saturday afternoon, reports Times of India.

While supported by her granny, the girl told cops at Ayodhya Nagar Police Station that the alleged rapist had given her 5p, while ordering her against telling anyone.

Police heard that she had been playing near her home when a pal of the alleged rapist walked up to her at about 1.30pm.

He handed her a 100-rupee (£1) note, and asked her to buy a tobacco pouch from a shop, said Sub-inspector Nisha Ahirwar.

The cop added: "She bought the tobacco, but when she went to give it to him, he told her to give it to another man standing next to a [dumpster] a few metres away."

She was then dragged into the huge container and allegedly assaulted, SI Ahirwar added.

The girl told cops she'd seen her alleged attacker in the neighbourhood several times before the alleged rape.

Eight investigation teams were sent out to hunt down the alleged offender, with cops taking photos of 40 potential suspects.

As a result, Ravi, 30, was nabbed at a liquor store on Saturday night, and taken into custody after the girl pointed out his pic.

Ravi – whose surname hasn't been publicly released – has been charged with rape and criminal intimidation.

It's the latest in a horrific string of assaults against children in India, where an epidemic of child rape continues to sweep the country.

India's rape crisis saw one woman being sexually attacked every 15 minutes on average in 2018, government data shows.

In 2019, a woman, 23, was set on fire by a gang of men in Uttar Pradesh as she travelled to court to press rape charges.

The National Family Health Survey, conducted in 2015-16, revealed that 33 per cent of married women aged from 15-49 age experienced physical, sexual, or emotional spousal violence.

But, of these victims, only 14 per cent sought help and 77 per cent never spoke about it.

Nearly 34,000 rapes are reported in the country annually despite tough laws introduced in recent years.

Back in 2017 The Sun Online reported on a man in India who was arrested after confessing to sexually assaulting more than 100 young girls, preying on them as they left school at the end of the day.

And in February 2021 a 13-year-old girl was gang-raped for eight days after being kidnapped by three men, who dragged her into a car in broad daylight.

The girl was snatched on January 15 from Delhi and was held for more than a week before being rescued by her family.

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