In a horrific incident, a 9-year-old girl was raped before being killed at a residential building in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. The attack sparked protests by local residents alleging police negligence in the case.

Authorities said the body of the girl was found lying in a pool of blood Thursday near the staircase that led to the terrace of the building. Local residents claimed that the "police did not take action when the family had reported that she was missing," local news station NDTV reported.

A senior police officer said the girl, who was not identified, was "first sexually abused and then killed."

Preliminary investigations suggest that the victim was "sexually abused, thrashed, strangled before her throat was slit by a person or a group of persons," the officer said. The girl had gone missing Wednesday evening.

"It seems that the culprits were known to the minor victim... that is why they killed her after abuse," the officer added.

Police spotted a couple of teeth and a few hair strands on the staircase where the minor's body was found. A blood-stained knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was recovered from a drain near the building.

"Going by the circumstantial evidence, we suspect that the culprit or the culprits knew the locality well. We are probing the matter. Sniffer dogs have been employed to help with the probe," Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said, Outlook India reported.

Last month, a man was arrested in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh for raping his friend's daughter, bludgeoning her with a rock and trying to bury her alive. The accused, 36-year-old Sushil Verma, was arrested on charges of rape and attempt to murder.

The 14-year-old girl was on her family's farm when she went missing. She was later found buried under thorny bushes and slabs of stones. The girl was seriously injured and was in an unconscious state.

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