The police found the girl's body in a field after her parents lodged a complaint (Representational)
The body of a three-year-old girl was recovered on Sunday from a field in Paar village of Bihar's Samastipur district, a police officer said.
Senior police officer Kundan Kumar said that on the face of it, it looked like the girl was raped and killed on Saturday evening.
The toddler's family members had approached the police on Saturday after her mother claimed that a man, known to them, had taken the child away from her by force when she was tending to goats in the fields, Mr Kumar said.
A police team that immediately launched a search operation, on the basis of the complaint, found her body in the field, next to a pond, on Sunday morning, he clarified.
"We have launched a hunt to nab the accused, who is on the run. We will try and solve the case as early as possible," the officer said, adding that the girl's body has been sent for post-mortem to Samastipur Sadar Hospital.