India: Missing toddler's body found stuffed in bag in neighbour's home

The girl had gone missing from a rented accommodation in a village in Greater Noida on April 7

By PTI

Published: Mon 10 Apr 2023, 4:03 PM

The body of a missing two-year-old girl has been found stuffed in a backpack at a neighbour's home in Greater Noida, police officials said on Monday.

The neighbour, who is suspected to have smothered the child to death, is absconding. The victim's family lived in the same building as tenants, they said.

According to the police, the girl had gone missing from a rented accommodation in Devla village in the Surajpur police station area on April 7 and the body was found two days later.

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In a complaint on April 8, the girl's father said he had gone out for work and around 2pm his wife had stepped out of the building for the market.

"When she returned to our first-floor home, our two-year-old daughter was missing," the father stated.

Additional DCP (Central Noida) Rajiv Dixit said the girl's father had filed a complaint on April 8 with the Surajpur police station about his missing daughter. An FIR under IPC Section 363 was lodged based on the complaint and three teams were formed to find her.

"On Sunday, police received information about a foul smell coming from a home in the same building. When police and forensic teams reached there, the child's body was found in the backpack," Dixit said.

The person from whose accommodation the girl's body was found is a native of Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district and is absconding, the police officer said.

ACP (Central Noida-3) Sumit Shukla on Monday said post mortem of the child has concluded that she was smothered to death. Both the suspect and the girl's father were daily wage earners, he said.