Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, a three-year-old girl found dead in a field in the district was raped and strangled, the police said on Friday, September 4.

The toddler, who had been missing since Wednesday, had injury marks on the head.

Her body was found just half a kilometre from her home in the Singahi area, police said. In his complaint to the police, the child’s father had accused another villager, Lekhram, alleging that his daughter was kidnapped and killed in an old feud with his family.

Following the father’s complaint, the police have formed four teams to nab the accused, reported NDTV.

Lakhimpur Kheri district has been in the news recently following the rape and murder of two minors. A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped, murdered and her mutilated body was found outside her village in Lakhimpur Kheri on August 25.

The police had initially said the girl appeared to have been killed with a sharp weapon and that she had sustained injuries to her neck. Her mutilated body was found near a dried-up pond which is around 200 metres from her village.

The girl, a class 12 student, had left home to visit a neighbouring town to fill up a scholarship form, said the relatives. However, when she did not return the family informed the police.

Barely 10 days before the incident, a 13-year-old girl was raped and strangled in the same district. The girl belonged to the Dalit community and had gone to the field to defecate.

When she didn’t return that night, the father raised an alarm and filed a missing report. Her body was found in the fields of one of the accused.