Kidnapped nine-year-old girl found dead on lakebed

Coimbatore: A nine-year-old girl who went missing on Thursday was found dead on the banks of a lake at Kannampalayam near Sulur in the city on Friday evening.The girl went to a local grocery store near her house in Sulur on Thursday evening but failed to return home. The girl's parents searched the neighbourhood but in vain.Upon inquiring at the grocery store, it came to light that an unidentified young man had picked up the girl on a two-wheeler.Realising that their daughter had been kidnapped, the parents lodged a formal complaint with the Sulur Police on Thursday night. Police immediately registered a case and launched a search operation.On Friday evening, the Sulur police received an information regarding the body of a young girl lying on the banks of Kannampalayam lake. A police team rushed to the spot, recovered the body and identified it as that of the missing nine-year-old.The body was subsequently sent to the Coimbatore Govt Hospital for a post-mortem. Coimbatore district superintendent of police (SP) Allatipalli Pavankumar Reddy visited the crime scene and ordered officials to expedite the probe.Police are currently analysing CCTV footage from the locality to identify the culprits and the vehicle used in the abduction.