HYDERABAD: The body of the ten-year-old girl, Jeedala Indu of Ambedkarnagar, who went missing after keeping her bag in school on Thursday, was found in Dammaiguda lake on Friday morning. Indu was studying Class IV in the Dammaiguda Zilla Parishad High School.
On Thursday, the school informed Indu’s father Jeedala Naresh that she had gone missing minutes after he dropped her at school. He approached the police.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said that the police had deployed patrol teams to look for Indu. “In CCTV footage, she was seen walking alone towards the Ambedkarnagar lake,” he said.
“As the area around the lake does not have CCTV camera, we got a dog squad to track her. Due to the strong odour from the lake, the effort was in vain. Even as police was searching for the girl, a special team on Friday morning spotted a body floating in the lake. It was later identified as Indu,” Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat said 10 teams were working to establish whether or not there was any foul play in her death. Police said that they are also questioning a few suspects in the case.
After her father dropped Indu at the school at 8.45 am on Thursday, she asked her friends to accompany her to play at around 9 am. When her friends refused, she allegedly stepped out by herself around 9.15 am.
“She walks back home along with her classmates every day. We suspect that the men who are seen consuming cigarettes and marijuana by the lake are involved in her death,” said a family member. “The lake does not have any CC surveillance too, which makes it easy for rowdy elements to gather and indulge in doing drugs.”
A post-mortem examination was performed on the body and it was later returned to the family. Police said they were awaiting the reports.
