The body of a 12-year-old boy was found on Saturday in fields near a village named Sahab Kalok in Mandi Bahauddin, DawnNewsTV reported citing police.

According to the victim's family, the child had left his house on Friday for fishing at a canal along with his friends but never returned, following which a search was launched in the area. The body was found in a sugarcane field today.

The deceased's family members along with other locals held a protest and urged the police to arrest the accused.

Saddar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Tahir Majeed Khan told DawnNewsTV that family had nominated a trio of suspects, of which two have been arrested while raids are being conducted to arrest the third.

The DSP said that a post-mortem examination will establish if the child was subjected to sexual assault or not prior to his murder, adding that a case has been filed at Civil Lines police station.

DSP Majeed claimed that a first information report (FIR) of the incident has been registered. However, a copy of the FIR had not been provided by the time this report was published.