Two days after she went missing in Tajganj area of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, an eight-year-old girl was found dead inside the rented room of her house, police said. The victim was found inside a flour container in a room the family had rented to one of the accused, Sunil, who also allegedly joined the search for the girl before fleeing.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Ali Abbas said that the girl went missing from Siddhant Nagar area in Tajganj district, around 4 pm on March 24, PTI reported.
Shortly after, the girl’s family informed the police, after which the authorities launched a massive search operation.
According to Abbas, the girl was seen entering the town via one of the surveillance cameras in the area, but she did not appear on any other camera after that.
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He was quoted as saying, “Eight teams were deployed to trace the child, and CCTV footage was scanned from the surrounding areas. The girl was seen entering the area with one camera, but she did not appear in any subsequent footage.”
The officer also stated that the police teams suspected the existence of an apartment in the vicinity, and accordingly, they opened the lock of a rented room.
Abbas added that Sunil, who rented the room, lived in the same house as the victim.
The officer said: “During the inspection, the girl’s body was recovered from a flour container inside the room.”
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The accused is on the run, officials said, adding that multiple police teams have been formed to track him down.
The body was transferred for autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Meanwhile, local residents staged protests angry over the incident and demanded strict action against the accused.
Sunil had reportedly been living as a tenant in the same house as the victim for about a year while working in the eight-year-old’s family’s shoe factory, according to a neighbour.
She also claimed that Sunil initially joined the search for the missing girl, but later locked his room and fled, raising suspicions among locals and cops.
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Last week, a one-month-old baby girl was found dead inside her home in the Bareilly camp area. However, the police later confirmed that the infant died due to the disease.
The boy’s parents, Shadab and his wife Hina, known as Saina, lived by begging, police said, citing preliminary findings.
The parents allegedly left their children, along with the newborn, inside the house to go and beg. When they returned at night, they found the baby dead inside.
Earlier this month, a man was arrested after killing a 4-year-old girl in UP’s Nandgram district.
Nandgram police reportedly received information about an injured child in a field. Her parents took her to a nearby hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
The family’s neighbor, Prajapati, had taken the child with him on the pretext of buying her sweets. However, no longer.
