Mumbai: Body of 6-year-old found, rape suspected

The girl was found strangulated, and the police are probing if she was sexually assaulted. She was identified as the daughter of a pavement dweller, who used to sleep under a flyover.

Ten days after a five-year-old girl was raped in Kandivali (west), another incident of violence against children in Mumbai came to light on Sunday morning when the body of a six-year-old child was found outside Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali (east).

The girl was found strangulated and the police are probing if she was sexually assaulted. She was identified as the daughter of a pavement dweller, who used to sleep under a flyover along the the Western Express Highway, a stone's throw away from the Borivali traffic outpost.

Around 7.30am, the girl's mother woke up and could not find her daughter next to her. "After a search of few minutes, the girl's body was found nearby — off the Western Express Highway. Her body has been sent for an autopsy. We are probing if she was raped prior to her death," said an officer at Kasturba Marg police station.

The police said the girl was abducted by an unidentified man in the early hours of Sunday, while she was sleeping next to her mother. The police are scanning the CCTV footage to understand the sequence of events.