A 10-year-old girl, who was reported missing on Thursday evening, was found dead in Kannampalayam tank close to her locality on the outskirts of Coimbatore city on Friday.

The police are on the lookout for two persons suspected of having been involved in the abduction and murder. They are also probing whether she was subjected to sexual assault.

The girl, a Class V student of a government school, went missing on Thursday evening while playing near her residence. Though relatives and neighbours searched for the girl, they could not trace her, following which they lodged a complaint at the Sulur police station.

The girl was found dead in the tank on Friday. . The body has been shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem examination.

Coimbatore District Superintendent of Police Allatipalli Pavan Kumar Reddy visited the crime scene and formed special teams to trace the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, residents from the girl’s neighbourhood staged a road blockade on Tiruchi Road, in front of the Sulur police station, around 9 p.m. on Friday, demanding the arrest of the assailants. Traffic on the arterial road came to a halt for more than an hour due to the protest, following which the police diverted vehicles through an alternative route.