LAKHIMPUR KHERI, UTTAR PRADESH: A three-year-old girl found dead in a field in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Thursday morning was raped and strangled, the police said today. This is the third rape-murder in the district in the 20 days.

The girl had been missing since Wednesday. Her body was found near just half a kilometer from her home with signs of head injury.

Yesterday, the police had called it a murder. Sexual assault was confirmed by the autopsy, said the police.

The child's father had accused another villager, Lekhram, in his complaint to the police. He had alleged that his daughter was kidnapped and killed in an old rivalry.
The police have formed four teams to look for the accused man.

Lakhimpur Kheri district has been in the news after a 17-year-old girl, who had left home to fill a scholarship application, was found dead outside her village. She was allegedly raped and murdered.

Her mutilated body was found near a dry pond around 200 metres from her village.

Before this, a 13-year-old girl was raped and strangled in the same district.

Police said the girl had gone to her fields in the afternoon and when she did not return home, her family started looking for her. She was found dead in a sugarcane field.