New Delhi, June 9 -- In a gruesome murder that unfolded on Saturday evening, a nine-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered by her 30-year-old neighbour at his house near Dayalpur in northeast Delhi, after which he stuffed her body in a suitcase to hide it, police officers said on Sunday. The accused went absconding shortly after the girl's family started searching for her. Police have identified him and have initiated a search, officers said. The grisly crime led to widespread outrage in the area, with the family members of the girl and locals staging a protest. Security personnel were deployed in the area to ensure law and order, officers said. According to police and the family members, the girl, a Class 5 student at a local government school and a resident of Dayalpur, left her house at around 7pm to give "ice to another relative who lives nearby. While on her way, the accused, who lives in a second floor flat in a six-storey building in the area, allegedly asked the girl to come to his house on the pretext of delivering his house keys which had fallen on the road, police said. Locals and her family alleged that he had deliberately thrown the keys to convince the girl to come. Around 7.30pm, when the girl did not return, the family enquired about her from the relative, but they told him that she had not come to their house. The family then began a search. "Nearly half hour into the search, my 13-year-old niece informed me that a woman in the neighbourhood had seen my daughter going inside a six-storey building to deliver keys to a man living on the second floor... By the time I reached the second floor flat, my brother and some locals were already present there. The flat was locked and a man outside the house claimed that it belonged to his brother and the keys were with him. The man asked my brother to accompany him to his brother's confectionery shop in the area. On the way, the man ran away even as my brother chased him for a few metres," the father said. The family said they did not know who the original owner of the house was. The accused took advantage of the fact and absconded, said a police officer, asking not to be named. When the family came to know about the man's disappearance, they immediately broke open the door of his house. On entering, they found a suitcase on the floor. When they opened it, they found the girl's body stuffed inside, with injury marks on her lips and face. "She was unconscious and unresponsive. She was partially undressed, and bleeding from her genitalia. We rushed her to a nearby nursing home, where doctors declared her dead. On examination, they found that she was sexually assaulted," the girl's 42-year-old father said. Joint commissioner of police (east) Vijay Kumar said they were informed at 8.41pm Saturday. Police reached the spot, and found the girl had been taken to a hospital by her father, where she was declared brought dead. "Prima facie, doctors observed visible injuries on her face and alleged sexual assault," he said. Police suspect that the girl died due to smothering or strangulation. The exact reason will be established on the basis of a pending autopsy report. A case of murder and sexual assault was registered under sections 103 and 66 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Police said the accused is mini-goods vehicle driver, married and is originally from Hapur in UP. "Teams are conducting raids to nab the accused, who has been identified," said Kumar. The girl is survived by her parents, grandparents and two younger brothers. Political parties also reacted to the grisly crime....