The police in Madhya Pradesh on Friday said they are conducting raids to track down suspects accused of kidnapping and beheading a 12-year-old Dalit girl in Sagar district’s Banda area, The New Indian Express reported.

Sagar Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Vyas said the girl from Belakhedi village had been missing since Wednesday and her disappearance was reported at the Banda police station at noon the next day. The family told the police that the girl had failed to return home from school on Wednesday, he added. The girl was a student of class 6 and had gone to the village school for her annual examination, the Hindustan Times reported.

“It was on Thursday evening around 7 pm that the headless body of the girl was found lying close to her village and her severed head was found around 50-100 metres away,” said Vyas, adding that the body has been sent for a postmortem examination to a hospital in Banda town.

Vyas said the police would wait for the autopsy report to establish more details. “Although circumstantial evidence doesn’t suggest any wrongdoing with her before the killing, it’s the autopsy report which will make the matter clear,” he said.

The girl’s family claimed that the accused lives in the same village and that they have a land-related dispute with them. The main accused is reportedly missing.

“We are conducting raids and hope to track down and nab the suspects soon,” the officer said.