4-year-old girl missing since Jan 9 found dead in northwest Delhi drain

New Delhi: A four-year-old girl who had gone missing from northwest Delhi's Prem Nagar was found dead in a drain on Monday, police said.

The child had been reported missing on January 9 when her mother, a resident of Kirari, approached Prem Nagar police station suspecting her daughter was either missing or had been kidnapped, they said.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered and a search operation was launched, police said.

During the investigation, police teams conducted searches and circulated information to all concerned agencies. Technical surveillance was employed, and assistance was taken from a sniffer dog squad. Drones were also used to search water bodies and drains in Prem Nagar area, officials said.

On January 12, during a search operation conducted along with the child's parents, the girl was found submerged in a drain near Dhruv Picket in Vidhyapati Nagar. She was pulled out and identified by her parents on the spot, they said.

The child was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangol Puri, where doctors declared her brought dead. The body was subsequently shifted to the mortuary, police said.

A mobile crime team and forensic science laboratory (FSL) team from Rohini were called to the spot to inspect the scene and carry out photography and other examinations.

Preliminary examination did not reveal any external injuries on the body, and the case appears to be one of drowning, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.