COIMBATORE: In a suspected case of rape and murder, a 10-year-old girl who went missing from Kannampalayam village in Coimbatore district on Thursday evening was found dead in a water body on Friday. The girl, a Class 4 student, lived with her parents at Bharathipuram of Pallapalayam in Sulur taluk.
According to police, she was playing near her house on Thursday evening when she disappeared. Upon noticing her absence, her parents and neighbours began a search.
Later, the family lodged a complaint at Sulur police station. Police registered a case and launched a search. On Friday evening, locals spotted a body floating in the Kannampalayam big tank, located around 1.5 kilometres behind the girl’s residence. A police team retrieved the body and sent it to ESI Hospital for postmortem.
Police sources said the girl might have been sexually assaulted before her body was abandoned. The Coimbatore district police have formed special teams, and officers said two suspects have from the neighbourhood have been identified and are being questioned.
Parents and relatives of the minor girl blocked Trichy Road in front of Sulur police station on Friday night seeking fair investigation into the case and immediate arrest of the accused.
Newly appointed Superintendent of Police A Pavankumar Reddy has ordered a detailed inquiry into the case. Meanwhile, Sulur TVK MLA NM Sukumar said that police have sought time up to 7 am to declare their action in the case.