Bhubaneswar/Angul: The body of a five-year-old girl was found in a pool of blood at a stone’s throw from her house in Angul district, with police suspecting that she was raped and murdered. The girl had gone missing Thursday afternoon and her family had filed a police complaint Friday. The girl’s body was found in her village under the jurisdiction of Industrial police station at Nisha Saturday. Passersby spotted the girl’s blood-soaked body lying near a mahua tree around 100 metres from her home, and informed the police, an officer said.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the girl was sexually assaulted and murdered. Police have detained a 40-yearold man in connection with the incident. In order to confirm whether the girl was sexually assaulted before her death, police have sent her body to Angul district headquarters hospital (DHH) for medical examination, the officer said. A team of paediatricians from Cuttack are also thoroughly examining whether the girl was raped or not, he added.