Indore, April 20: In an unprecedented case of brutality, a six-year-old was found raped and murdered in Madhya Pradesh's Indore. The blood-soaked body of the infant was found in a building's basement in the wee hours of Friday at 4:45 am.

Preliminary investigation by the police has revealed one Suneel Bheel, a 21-year-old youth, as the prime accused as he was spotted in the basement at 4:45 am as per the CCTV footage.

The post-mortem conducted by the state-run MY Hospital revealed the girl was likely raped before being killed as her private parts bore a sharp injury mark, news agency PTI reported.

"The body of the infant was recovered from the basement of a commercial building in Rajwada area. The accused, Sunil Bheel, had kidnapped her early today morning when she was asleep with her parents outside the Rajwada Fort. The accused was sleeping close to the family," said HC Mishra, deputy inspector-general of police, Indore.

The accused and the infant's parents knew each other and were in the business of selling balloons, Mishra said.

"The accused is seen carrying the infant in CCTV images of around 4:45 am today. He then took her to the basement of the building, some 50 metres away from where the family was sleeping, and her body was recovered in the afternoon," he said.

"The infant had an injury on her head. The accused probably threw her to the ground. However, only the post-mortem report will verify if she died due to this or whether she was smothered," Mishra said. "We are going to arrest the accused shortly," he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2018 11:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).