On account of Republic Day, the workers had been given a day off from work on Monday.

The girl was strangulated with her own dupatta, police said. Police suspect she may have been raped.

Her parents are construction labourers who migrated from West Bengal six months back. On Sunday night, she had gone with some friends to watch television. “There is a television set in the compound for community viewing and that day, around 40-50 labourers and their families had assembled there. The girl’s father told us that he and his wife stayed back at their makeshift shack and assumed their daughter would be with friends. When she did not return for dinner, they grew worried and began a search. Not finding her anywhere, they thought she must be with one of her friends and decided to resume the search the next morning,” said SI Chandrakant Uttekar of Kalachowki police station.

The body was found the next day.

Police said she had been strangulated. She had bled from the ears and mouth. “She was clothed. The dupatta was still wound on her throat. There were scratch marks on her hands. Other than that there were no external injuries. We suspect she was raped and are expecting the post-mortem report to confirm it,” said Uttekar.