Kalyan: ‘Missing’ 4-year-old’s body found

Three days after her parents lodged a missing complaint, a four-year-old girl’s body was found close to her house in Kalyan on Wednesday night. The girl, identified as Payal Prasad, lived with her parents in Gautam Chawl in Bhoiwada, police said.

“She had gone out to play on April 1 but did not return after that. Her parents enquired with the neighbours and other relatives but she remained untraceable,” said an officer from Bhoiwada police station. On Wednesday evening, a body was found in Roshan Baug area, close to Bhoiwada. “The body was in a bad condition with both hands cut off. We called Payal’s relatives to identify the body,” the officer said.

The girl’s father, Mahadev Prasad, confirmed that the body was Payal’s, the police said. “We had retrieved the body from a shrubbery. It is possible that she was killed and the body was dumped there,” the officer said.

A senior officer said: “We have sent the body for a postmortem and will only get a conclusive result after the report comes. However, prima-facie, it seems that the girl was strangulated and then her hands were chopped off. We have lodged a case of murder.”