INDORE: In a shocking incident, a five-year-old girl was abducted while sleeping with her eight-member family in a shanty at a brick kiln in Ujjain and stoned to death in Bhukhi Mata area early on Friday.

While the police were searching for the girl, her bloodied body was found floating in Kshpira river near a bridge in the afternoon, with injury marks on her private parts and head. Police suspect that the attackers had attempted to rape her and fearing a backlash, stoned her to death before throwing the body in the river.

“We have found two bricks with blood on them at the river bank. The bricks might be used to hit the girl, who had injury marks on her head and face,” Mahakal police station in-charge Arvind Singh Tomar told TOI.

The girl was sleeping with her family – parents, grandparents and four siblings aged 5-9 years – in a shanty near a brick kiln. The accommodation was provided by the brick kiln owner to migrant labourers, Tomar said, adding, around a dozen kilns operate in the area and hundreds of labourers from nearby areas work in them.

At around 2am, the grandfather woke up and claimed to have seen the girl sleeping, while holding on to her grandmother. At 5am, when he woke up again, the girl was missing. The grandfather raised an alarm and informed the police.

A police team rushed to the spot with a dog squad. The dogs sniffed around in circles in 200 meter area from the shanty, the inspector said adding the family later informed that the victim played with her friends in the locality where the dogs were leading.

While the search was on, report of a body of a girl found in Kshipra river came through. The family identified her as the victim.

The body was later sent for a post-mortem examination. “A three-member team of doctors has been formed to perform the autopsy. Initial report suggest injuries on her private parts, indicating at a sexual attack. The doctors are yet to confirm whether she was raped,” additional SP Neeraj Pandey said.

The police also found empty beer and liquor bottles in the vicinity, indicating that there may be more than one attacker. Trousers of the victim were also found nearby.

The police were in the process of interrogating the inhabitants of the areas. Investigators believe that the accused must be known to the family and the girl.

