A three-year-old girl was found dead on Thursday morning in a suspected case of murder in a village in Singahi area here, police said. Bearing injury marks on the head, the toddler's body was recovered from a sugarcane field in the vicinity of the girl's village from where she was missing since Wednesday.

In his complaint lodged with the police, the victim's father alleged that one Lekhram, a resident of the same village, had abducted and killed her daughter due to an old enmity with the family. Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) Satendra Kumar Singh said a case of murder had been lodged against the accused based on the father's complaint.

The SP added that the body had been sent for a post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of the death. Efforts were underway to catch hold of the accused while further action would be taken after the autopsy report is received, he added.