6-year-old girl found dead in school compound in Dahod district

VADODARA: A six-year-old girl was smothered to death at Pipaliya village in Dahod district. Her body was found in the village primary school compound late on Thursday evening.
The girl was in Class 1 at the Pipaliya village primary school in Singvad taluka. She left home at about 10am to go to school but did not return till late in the evening.
Her family started looking for her along with others and eventually went to the school and jumped over the gate to check if the girl had remained inside school.Her body was found behind the school building in the compound.
Her relatives informed the school officials and parents. Dahod superintendent of police Rajdeepsinh Zala and other police officials rushed to the spot, as did the sub-divisional magistrate and district primary education officer.
Zala said the primary cause of death given to police after the autopsy was smothering. He said a detailed postmortem report, after examination of the internal organs, was still awaited.
The primary education department of the district panchayat, which operates govt primary schools in the district, will also conduct an inquiry. It has already started speaking to the school staff.
Sources said officials are trying to find how the body remained unnoticed in the compound. Those looking for the girl had gone there after the school was locked.