A murder case was registered against unidentified people in connection with the death of a civil judge of Budaun district whose body was found hanging in her residence, following a complaint filed by her father, a police officer said on Sunday.

The body of Civil Judge (Junior Division) Jyotsna Rai, 27, was recovered on Saturday. It was suspected that she had killed herself and a suicide note was also found. However, her father, who reached Budaun on Saturday evening, claimed that unidentified persons killed her daughter and hung the body from the ceiling fan in her bedroom, the police officer said.

Ashok Kumar Rai said his daughter was very brave and delivered justice to people, adding that she could not commit suicide.

Based on the complaint filed by him, a case under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) was registered, the police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Alok Priyadarshi said a panel of three doctors conducted the post-mortem and the report showed that it was a case of ante-mortem hanging.

A detailed probe into the matter is underway, the SSP added.

Jyotsna Rai, who hailed from Mau district, was posted as civil judge (junior division) in Budaun from April 29 last year. Earlier, she was working as a judicial magistrate in Ayodhya.

Meanwhile, an 11-year-old girl was choked to death in a village in Firozabad district on Saturday evening, police officials confirmed on Sunday.

According to an official statement, the minor girl’s death is believed to have been caused by her female neighbour. The victim, Tulsi, was strangled during a confrontation with the neighbor in Raipura village.

Superintendent of Police (City) Sarvesh Kumar Mishra said that Tulsi fought with Ruby, the wife of one Manish who lives in the neighbourhood, over some issue. During the fight, Ruby grabbed Tulsi by her neck so hard that she became unconscious. Her family members and police rushed the girl to the district hospital, where the doctors pronounced her dead.

Mishra said Ruby had been booked and taken into custody.

The girl’s body was sent for post-mortem.