A 13-year-old school girl was found dead in suspicious circumstances at Lamachaur in Pokhara on Friday.

Body of Pushpa KC, sixth grader at Bindhyabasini Secondary School in Batulechaur, was found in a bush about 2.5 km from her residence, said police. The girl went missing after she returned from school on Thursday. It is learnt that the victim got off the school bus about 100 metres from her house at around 4pm,

saying that she had to buy vegetables.

The victim’s family informed Ward Police Office in Bagar after she did not come to contact till Friday morning. The security personnel and the locals recovered the body in the bush below Sailaja Memorial Park on Friday evening. The girl was in school uniform.

According to an eyewitness, her skirt was near the body, both the shoes were taken out and she had blades of grass in her left hand. The girl, who was on the sixth day of her monthly period, was bleeding.

The relatives and locals suspected that the girl might have been raped and murdered. However, a postmortem report shows that she died of head injuries. “Additional forensic tests should be conducted into the case. The sample should be taken to Kathmandu,” said Superintendent of Police Om Bahadur Rana, adding that investigation was ongoing.