The body of a nine-year-old girl was recovered on Thursday morning from the terrace of a residential building in the city's Jorabagan area, sparking protests by locals, who claimed that the police did not take action when the family had reported that she was missing.

The minor girl, with her throat slit, was found lying in a pool of blood, a senior police officer said.

A team of officers from the local police station and Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma rushed to the area in the northern part of the city, following the "discovery of the girl's body", he said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the nine-year-old, who went missing on Wednesday evening, was sexually abused and then murdered by a person or a group of persons, the officer said.

"Going by circumstantial evidence, we suspect that the culprit or the culprits knew the locality well. We are probing the matter. Sniffer dogs have been employed to help with the probe," he stated. Locals, alleging police inaction, took to the streets, seeking justice for the girl. "The family had approached the police when the girl went missing last evening. But they did not cooperate. Had they searched the locality, the girl could have been saved. Their casual attitude is responsible for this," one of the locals alleged.