New Delhi: A minor girl died after she was allegedly raped and found stuffed inside a suitcase in a bleeding condition in Delhi’s Dayalpur area, police said on Sunday.

The girl was found unconscious inside the suitcase on the second floor of a flat in Nehru Vihar on Saturday evening. Her family had launched a search for her hours earlier after she went missing, officials said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) Ashish Mishra stated, “At around 8:40 p.m. last night, a PCR call was received reporting a nine-year-old girl found in an injured condition.”

"Upon reaching the location at Gali No. 2 in Nehru Vihar, the Dayalpur police team found that a minor girl in an unconscious state had been taken to the hospital by her father," he added.

"Our team also reached the hospital, where doctors, after the preliminary examination, declared her dead. Signs of sexual assault were found," he said.

A case has been registered at Dayalpur police station under Sections 103(1), among others, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with murder and Section 6 of the POCSO Act that deals with aggravated sexual assault, the police said.

Soon after the detection of the suitcase, crime and forensic science laboratory teams inspected the spot, and multiple teams were deployed to trace the accused using CCTV footage collected from the area, the police added.

The father of the deceased girl said, "We have not received any information yet. Now we are going to the mortuary for the child's post-mortem. We will find out more when we get there, as the police have called us."

Earlier, the girl's family members raised an alarm when she failed to return after delivering ice at her aunt's place on Saturday afternoon.

The girl's father said that inquiries in the colony revealed that a man had taken her to his flat, the police said.

When the family reached the flat, it was found locked. The house owner said the keys to the flat were with his brother, the police added.

After the lock was broken open, the disrobed girl, in an unconscious state, was found in the suitcase, the police said. IANS