The body of a 12-year-old girl was found in a temple in Masta Rural Municipality-2 of Bajhang district on Thursday night.

The deceased was a resident of Khikala village.

Police suspected that the girl may have been murdered after the culprit/s raped her as the clothes in the lower part of the body was missing while there were injury marks on different parts of the body.

The girl had gone to feed cattle with grass and foliage at a shed which was 10-minute walk away from her home. When she did not return home till late night, her family went out searching for her, police informed.

It has been learnt that the girl along with her two sisters had been living with her grandparents as the parents are working in India. The victim’s grandfather said he along with the neighbors went searching for his granddaughter who did not return home till 8pm. Alas, they found her, lifeless, at the Shiva temple located at a distance of 200 metres from the shed.

He further added said that he fainted at the sight of his grandchild’s injured body.

The deceased’s grandfather recalled that his granddaughter had once told him that a fellow villager used to ask for the gold earring she used to put on due to which she was scared. “I used to tell her not to worry, nothing will happen.”

The said suspect had apparently been lurking on the way while the girl went to the shed to feed the cattle and the grandfather doubts the same person is behind the minor’s death.

Chief of Bajhang District Police Office (DPO), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rupak Khadka, who immediately reached the site for investigation suspected that the girl may have been murdered after being raped. The DSP said the postmortem reports would be out soon.

Meanwhile, a suspect has been taken into police custody and the investigation into the case has proceeded, DSP Khadka informed.

The report will be delivered today as the District Hospital based in Simkhet conducted postmortem on Thursday, police informed.