New Delhi: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by an unidentified accused in a slum dwelling in north west Delhi's Keshav Puram area, police said on Saturday. The girl was missing from her house since Friday evening. She was later found lying and crying in bushes near rail line by a passer-by, a senior police officer said.

The child was found “unconscious, naked and bleeding” on the tracks close to her house in northwest Delhi's Keshav Puram on Friday evening. Doctors at Safdarjung, where she was brought later that night on the reference of a local hospital, said on Saturday that she had suffered “serious injuries” all over her body while her genital area was particularly “damaged” and required surgical repair. She was currently in the intensive care unit.

The girl, a resident of JJ cluster in Keshav Puram area, was raped as she was bleeding profusely. She was rushed to Mahavir Hospital, from where she was referred to Safdarjung Hospital where she is undergoing treatment, the officer said.

"She is admitted in the High Dependency Unit. She is conscious and out of danger but still in pain," medical superintendent of Safdarjung hospital, A K Rai, said.

"She was brought to our hospital at around 8 PM yesterday night after being referred by Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital. She had injury on her private parts and doctors operated on her last night," he said.

The girl, whose father is a painter, was playing outside her house when she went missing. Her grandparents tried to search her, but she could not be found, police said.

A case under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Acts has been registered and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused, who are yet to be identified, he said.

There is an eatery in the slum where alcoholics and miscreants assembled late night. It is suspected that the accused could be frequent visitors of those shops, a local youth working with an NGO said.

"We have zeroed in on some suspects and we are keeping a watch. Once the girl recovers, we will be able to get more clues about the accused," the officer added.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal met the victim at the hospital.