A mutilated body of a missing eight-year-old girl was found near the residence of Madhya Pradesh's home minister Uma Shankar Gupta on Monday.

The body was found near the debris of dismantled houses in the TT Nagar area close to Gupta's house.

The girl's head was found badly crushed and her one of her legs suspected to be eaten up by stray dogs. The girl was identified by her mother on the basis of the frock she was wearing.

"We got a call in the morning about a dead body. When we reached, a leg was eaten up by a stray dog, making it virtually impossible to identify her but her mother identified the body," said Anshuman Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bhopal (South), First Post reported.

Police have not ruled out whether the minor was sexually assaulted.

"I recognised the body; I know she is my daughter because the body had the same clothes that my daughter was wearing yesterday evening. I was not able to recognise her face as it had been badly crushed. I don't suspect anyone. I don't know how it happened. Her father is still out looking for her," Hindustan Times quoted the victim's mother Sapna Dhuria as saying.

On Sunday, the girl had gone to attend the Bhopal Utsav Mela. When she did not return home at night her father approached the police station and informed that his daughter was missing for several hours.

Soon after the incident, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh slammed BJP government over the fact that the body was discovered near the home minister's residence.

 "It is disgusting that the body of an 8-year-old girl was found near Mr Gupta's residence," Singh said in a statement.