Thane: 4-yr-old girl found dead with hands missing

Thane: The body of a four-year-old girl, who was reported missing, was found in bushes with her hands missing in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi, police said on Friday.

The girl, a resident of Gautam Nagar, went missing from near her house on Tuesday evening, said a police officer.

The girl, along with her brother, had gone to play with other children at a ground near her house. While her brother returned home, she continued playing with other kids, said senior inspector V D Bhise of Bhoiwada under the Bhiwandi police division. After she did not return home till late evening, her parents went looking for her. On not finding her, they approached the police, he said.

On Wednesday evening, the girl's body with her hands missing was found lying in bushes just 300 metres away from her residence, the police said. The girl also had injury mark on the back of her neck, they said, adding the body has been sent for post-mortem examination.

A case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) has been registered, the police said. The motive of the murder was not yet known, Bhise said, adding only a probe will ascertain if it was a case of child sacrifice.