Police suspect rape after 7-year-old girl's naked and bleeding body found inside school premises

Police in India's Uttar Pradesh state suspect a seven-year-old girl has been allegedly raped and murdered after her naked body was found inside a school premises in the early hours of Saturday (25November).

There was bleeding from the abdomen, police in Agra city said of the body, and added that they suspect the victim's father is involved in the crime.

The deceased girl's mother had died six years ago and she lived with her father, a poor labourer, and her nine-year-old brother in a tent — a makeshift home, The Times of India reported.

The incident was reported to police by the father, who made an emergency call at around 3.30am local time (10pm GMT) on Saturday. Initially, the father had reported his daughter missing.

The school where the body was found was some 300metres from their tent house.

"The girl's body was found without any clothes on it and she was bleeding from the abdomen area. The post-mortem report has confirmed smothering as the cause of death, but sexual assault cannot yet be ascertained," deputy superintendent of police Akhilesh Narayan Singh told the paper. "The viscera has been preserved for further examination.

"Prima facie it seems that someone very close to the girl killed her. We are collecting some more evidence before we arrest the culprit," Singh said, adding that the father is also a suspect as of now.

"It was the father who led police to the victim's body. We suspect his involvement and will question him once the girl is cremated. Since the nine-year-old elder brother was also there in the same tent, his statement will be very important in the case," a senior police official added.