6-month-old girl found dead in MP

The blood-soaked body of a six-month-old infant was recovered from the basement of a building here, a police official said today.

Police identified the accused as Sunil Bheel (21), claiming that he was seen in CCTV footage, at around 4.45 am today, carrying the infant on his shoulder.

The post-mortem of the infant, which was carried out at the state-run MY Hospital here, suggested that she might have been raped before being killed as her private parts bore an injury mark, a source said.

"The body of the infant was recovered from the basement of a commercial building in Rajwada area. The accused, Sunil Bheel, had kidnapped her early today morning when she was asleep with her parents outside the Rajwada Fort. The accused was sleeping close to the family," said HC Mishra, deputy inspector-general of police, Indore.

The accused and the infant's parents knew each other and were in the business of selling balloons, Mishra said.

"The accused is seen carrying the infant in CCTV images of around 4:45am today. He then took her to the basement of the building, some 50 metres away from where the family was sleeping, and her body was recovered in the afternoon," he said.

"The infant had an injury on her head. The accused probably threw her to the ground. However, only the post-mortem report will verify if she died due to this or whether she was smothered," Mishra said.

"We are going to arrest the accused shortly," he added.