7-yr-old girl found murdered in Morena, hands tied & body dumped in pit

Bhopal: A seven-year-old girl was found murdered in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district on Thursday, with her hands tied using a rope and the body dumped inside a cave-like pit in a deserted area, apparently to conceal the crime.Police launched a detailed investigation and are awaiting the post-mortem report to ascertain the exact cause of death and determine whether the child was sexually assaulted before being killed.The incident was reported from a village under Chinnoni police station in Kailaras area of Morena district, where the girl accompanied her parents to a family function on Wednesday night. According to police, the child was sleeping beside her father after the ceremony ended. When the family woke up early in the morning, she was found missing, triggering panic among relatives and villagers.A frantic search was launched in and around the village. Hours later, the girl’s body was discovered inside a cave-like pit located in a secluded area outside the settlement. Family members immediately informed police, following which a team rushed to the spot and began investigations.Police said the condition in which the body was found pointed towards murder. The victim’s hands were tied with a rope and injury marks were visible on the head. Investigators suspect the body was dumped in the pit to delay its discovery and destroy evidence.“Prima facie, it is clearly apparent to be a case of murder, the hands of the deceased were tied up, there were injury marks on the head. As far as sexual assault is concerned, apparently there were no visible marks suggesting it. But the actual cause of death and whether there has been any assault or not will be clear once we get the post-mortem report. A case has been registered and detailed investigations are going on,” Chinnoni police station in-charge Rishikesh Sharma told TOI.The body was sent for post-mortem examination at Kailaras hospital. Police teams are questioning relatives and villagers, while efforts are underway to identify and trace those involved in the killing.