Keonjhar, March 6: A four-year-old girl, who had gone missing from Thursday night, was found dead in mysterious circumstances at Jaribahal area in the mineral rich Joda town last night.

It is suspected that the girl was first raped and then murdered.

The victim, identified as Munmun, had gone to her neighbour’s house on Thursday night. However, she did not return home and her family members searched for her but failed to trace the girl.

Her body was spotted by some villagers yesterday night, two days after she went missing.

“My daughter told me that she was going to watch television at her neighbour’s house on Thursday night. When she did not return, I searched in and around the village. Later, her body was found at an isolated place. I was informed by some villagers about her dead body lying in a pool of blood,” said Arjun Barik, deceased’s father

“I could never think my daughter would go and never come back to me,” Barik said.

The child’s father had lodged a complaint with the Bamberi police after she went missing.

Police recovered the body from a bush at an isolated place near a mine after being informed by the victim’s father. A scientific team and police dog have been pressed into service to get a lid of the incident and massive manhunt is being conducted to nab the culprit. The body was sent for post-mortem, police sources said.

“We suspect it is a case of rape and murder. Our investigation is on and we hope the culprit would be in police net soon,” said Silver Topo, inspector-in-charge of Bamberi police station.

No one has been arrested so far.