17-year-old missing girl found dead with face, parts of body burnt in UP's Bhadohi; rape suspected

A minor girl who was missing for two days in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi was found dead on Wednesday with her face and upper portion of the body burnt with acid, presumable to hide her identity, police said. 

Police suspect that she was raped before being murdered. 

According to reports, the 17-year-old girl from a village in the Dhaurhara area of Bhadohi went missing after she went to graze cattle on Monday. The police was informed soon after. 

Her body was found in the river with acid burns on her face and upper part of the body, according to SP Ram Badan Singh. In the preliminary inquiry, it appears the girl was strangled. 

The district police chief said the state of the body suggests that she could have been raped and her face and upper part of the body burnt to hide her identity, PTI reported. 

The girl's family identified her through her clothes. 

Locals staged a protest on the Bhadohi-Jaunpur road demanding immediate arrest of the alleged culprits and did not allow the police to take the body for post-mortem. 

The father of the girl has alleged the role of a brick kiln owner and some others in the crime. 

Singh said the villagers were pacified and the process the body was sent for an autopsy.