A man arrested on suspicion of raping a disabled 16-year-old girl hanged himself with a scarf in his police cell in Pursat’s Kandieng district on Saturday.

The suspect, 32-year-old farmer Rorn Kach, was arrested earlier that day after a complaint by the alleged victim’s family.

After spending several hours in detention, Kach attached a scarf to his cell’s window bars and used it to kill himself, according to district deputy police chief Sin Sokha.

“We really do not know the reason for the suicide, but according to the examination of the experts coming from Pursat provincial police station, the suspect did hang himself with a scarf,” Sokha said.

After an examination, the body was released to his family for burial.

Prisons department spokesman Sorn Keo said that judicial police in Pursat would launch an investigation to discover the reason for the suicide.

The alleged rape victim was Kach’s neighbour and police said that she was developmentally disabled.