COIMBATORE: Police have launched a manhunt after a seven-year-old girl, who went missing on Monday, was found murdered near her house at Pannimadai near Coimbatore on Tuesday morning.The girl, a Class I student, was last seen playing in front of her house. Her family lodged a missing complaint and launched a frantic search in the locality throughout the night. But her body was found about 40m from the house in the morning with injuries on the head.Police sources said she was strangled to death. "After receiving a complaint from the parents, we had launched a door-to-door search in the area," a police officer said.The Thadagam police sent the body to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem. The girl's kin staged a road roko in front of CMCH on Tuesday afternoon, demanding the arrest of the culprit. Four special teams led by four inspectors and six special teams lead by six sub-inspectors are formed to nab the perpetrator.Meanwhile, the victim's mother told reporters that she suspected the involvement of a neighbour in the incident. Based on her statement, the special teams picked up a youth in the afternoon. AIADMK MLA VC Arukutty visited the hospital to console the parents. However, the family and members of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) objected to his visit and asked him not to politicize the issue. After they requested him to leave the place, the MLA complied. BJP's Lok Sabha candidate CP Radhakrishnan also had to go back.The family refused to receive the body after postmortem. It will be handed over to them on Wednesday, police sources said.

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