Malda, July 28: Police are looking for three women who allegedly throttled a 10-year-old girl to death in Pulintola yesterday.

The body of Alti Khatoon was found in a jute field on Bhutni island in the Ganga. According to a complaint lodged by Sheikh Ali, his daughter, along with his son Sheikh Aktar (12) was catching fish in the river when the three women came there and started assaulting her.

Aktar said they started beating up Alti mercilessly and dragged her away.

Seeing his sister being attacked by the women, the boy rushed back home and informed his father about the incident.

When Ali, a fisherman, reached the spot, there was no trace of Alti. He later filed an FIR with Manikchak police and her body was found in a jute field last night.

Officer-in-charge of the Manikchak police station Sanjay Ghosh said preliminary investigation suggested that the girl had been throttled to death and they were searching for the culprits.

The officer added that they were yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder.

The police also talked to Aktar to get an idea of how the three women looked like.