Missing 6yearold found hanging from tree 30km from Lucknow

LUCKNOW: The body of a six-yearold girl who went missing from Madiaon on March 15, was found hanging from a tree in the thickets of a village 30km away in the Maal area on the outskirts of Lucknow on Sunday, police said.

Inspector in-charge of Madiaon police station Amar Nath Yadav said the girl, a Class 2 student of a private school in Madiaon, did not return home from school. He said the father, a mason, lodged an FIR the same night accusing his neighbour couple of kidnapping the child.

The body was found near the neighbour’s house in their native Lodhkheda village of Maal. “While the family and police were searching for the girl, her decomposed body was found hanging from a tree in Kolwa forest area in Maal on Sunday,” Yadav said.

He said the girl was in school uniform and her belt was found tied around her neck. The body’s condition suggested that she was killed immediately after her disappearance on March 15, Yadav said. The child’s father alleged that she was murdered after being raped but police have ruled out rape.

Late Sunday night, SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar shifted inspector in-charge of Madiaon police station Amar Nath Yadav to police lines and suspended sub-inspector Veer Pal over negligence in the case.

Police have taken the neighbour Brijesh and his wife Asha into custody for interrogation after they were accused by the girl’s father of being involved in the crime. The father also accused the police of negligence and ignoring his charge against the couple. Madiaon police had taken the couple for interrogation on March 16 but later freed them. The girl’s father claimed that Brijesh and Asha committed the crime for revenge.

He alleged that the couple had earlier threatened to kidnap his child when their 17-year-old daughter went missing on February 15. He said the couple had then accused him of being involved in their daughter’s disappearance, but she had later returned and confessed that she had gone away on her own will.