In a shocking incident, a three-and-half-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and murdered by two minor boys for a ransom of Rs 1 crore in South Mumbai here, police said.

The incident came to the fore last midnight after the girl's body, which was cut into pieces, was recovered from Kazipura, Haji Kasam Chawl in Nagpada area.

The two accused were also placed under arrest in the wee hours, they said.

According to police, the victim had gone missing since December 5 and a case was registered by her parents in this regard with the JJ Marg police station.

Victim's parents had received a call from unidentified persons, demanding Rs 1 crore as ransom. Unable to shell out such a huge amount, the father agreed to pay Rs 28 lakh to the alleged kidnappers, DCP (Zone 1), Manojkumar Sharma said.

The abductors had later asked the girl's father to come with ransom sum at Kalwa in neighbouring Thane.

During the course of investigation, a 16-year-old boy, who lived in the neighbourhood of the girl and had passed on the information of kidnapping to the parents, was detained and quizzed by the police.

Further interrogation revealed that the boy and his accomplice, also aged 16, had abducted the girl on December 5 and later strangulated her with a cell phone charger wire on the very same day, the official said.

Both the accused were arrested in the wee hours and further investigations were on, Sharma said, adding that the body has been sent for postmortem.