Kolkata, July 26 - A 12-year-old girl was Sunday found hanging by the neck in a bamboo grove near her residence in Nadia district of West Bengal, police said.

Police said the body of the girl, a class 6 student of a Muragacha Subodhoni High School, was found to be without clothes and suspended about six inches above the ground.

'This is an incident of murder. We can't say if the girl was sexually assaulted. That can only be said after the post-mortem examination report and other necessary forensic tests,' Superintendent of Police (Nadia) H. Kusumakar said.

He said: 'The family members of the victim have not mentioned any name of the suspects. We are investigating the case now.'

According to sources, the girl had left her Bahirgachi home Saturday evening to attend a wedding ceremony in the neighbourhood. When she did not return home, her father began a search but could find no clue about the whereabouts of the girl.

Late in the night, he lodged a complaint with the local Nagasipara police station that his daughter was missing, police said.

Later the locals spotted the girl's body in the bamboo grove Sunday morning.