Girl’s body with dupatta tied on neck found on rd

THANE: The body of an unidentified girl, believed to be 15-17, with a dupatta tightly wound around the neck was found near a construction site in Thane’s Kasarwadavali on Saturday.

Police, who lodged an FIR for murder, suspect that she may have been killed elsewhere and the body was dumped at the site.Police are ascertaining if she had been sexually assaulted. The body has been sent for a postmortem examination to determine the cause and time of death.According to Nivrutti Kolhatkar, senior inspector, Kasarwadavali police, locals spotted the body on Saturday afternoon near a road adjacent to the construction site and alerted police.Police said the dupatta, likely her own, indicated that the girl was strangled, adding that she was around 4ft tall and dressed in a green salwar-kurta with bangles on the wrists. Her photographs have been circulated among various police departments and missing persons’ databases across the region are being scoured to help establish her identity. “We have alerted all our counterparts to check if any missing or kidnapping case has been reported in their jurisdiction.

Initially, a few of them were verified, but they turned out to be different cases. The autopsy will determine if the girl was sexually assaulted,” said a police officer. Police are also scanning CCTV footage from the area and making inquiries with residents, construction workers and shopkeepers in the hopes of gathering leads.Besides the charge of murder under Section 103(1) of BNS, destruction of evidence (Section 238) has been invoked in the case.