Meerut: Two and a half years old Gudiya was so fond of khichdi that she waited for Tuesday the entire week as on that day the anganwadi centre near her house served the dish. Like on several previous occasions, Gudiya left her house this Tuesday, but she never returned.After an entire day of frantic searching when her father Harender Kumar, a daily wage labourer, could not find her in their Sunna village in Kandhla town of Shamli district, he approached police for help. A case of kidnapping against unknown persons was registered and cops began looking for the little girl. However, on Thursday morning, Gudiya’s lifeless body was found floating in Krishna river in Rajpur Chaajpur village, around 2km from her house.Meanwhile, police have sent the child’s body for postmortem and have detained three people on the basis of suspicion. Shamli SP Ajay Pal Sharma told TOI, “We are looking at all angles including personal enmity as the girl’s father owed Rs 20,000 to someone in the village and had paid the amount only after the panchayat’s order a few months ago. On the basis of inputs from some village elders, we have rounded up three suspects, though we have not found any material evidence against them so far.”“Gudiya was my fifth child. She was quite fond of khichdi served at the anganwadi centre, which is located about 200 meters from our house. Since she was very small, the teachers there never objected to her presence. However, we had never imagined that her love for khichdi would cost her life,” said an inconsolable Harender Kumar.According to sources, police are waiting for the girl’s postmortem report to see whether she was sexually assaulted before being killed. “We are waiting for the postmortem report. Meanwhile, the investigation is on,” said an official.

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