Hathras (UP): The body of a four-year-old girl, who went missing four days ago, was found stuffed in a sack near a canal on the outskirts of her village here on Thursday, police said.
The girl went missing from her home in Kodara Jahangirpur village under the Sikandra Rao police station area around 5 pm on November 9, officials said.
A missing person report was lodged at the Sikandra Rao police station after the girl's family failed to trace her. Both the police and family members had been searching for her since then, they said.
On Thursday morning, some locals noticed a foul smell coming from a sack lying near the Khurja canal outside the village. On opening it, they found the girl's body, after which the police were informed.
Additional Superintendent of Police Ramanand Kushwaha said the girl had gone missing while playing outside her house.
"The body was found near the canal today and has been sent for post-mortem examination. The circumstances surrounding her death will become clear after the post-mortem report," he said.
The girl's father had died in a road accident around four months ago. She was the eldest of three siblings and is survived by a younger sister and a three-month-old brother.
Her mother said the family had no known enmity with anyone and expressed anguish over the circumstances in which her daughter was killed.