A probe has been launched into the case, the police said. (Representational)
A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Purenderpur area of Mahrajganj district, police said on Tuesday.
The body of the girl was found in a pool of blood in a forest area around 500 meters away from her home on Tuesday morning, they said.
After getting information, police officials including Maharajganj senior police official Pradeep Gupta, rushed to the spot and sent the body for postmortem.
It is suspected to be a case of gang-rape and murder, said police officials.
They said the girl was the eldest among three sisters with her father working in another city.
The police officials said the victim's mother had gone to the jungle area to fetch grass from her cattle and had asked her daughter to bring her cycle later to the forest to carry the grass back home, but the girl never reached her mother and went missing.
As the girl's mother reported the matter to the police, they launched a search for the girl and found her cycle and slippers in the jungle late in the night.
The girl's body was found on Tuesday morning, said Mr Gupta, adding a probe has been launched into the case.