A 15-year-old schoolgirl had her eyes gouged out and nails driven into her palms and was possibly gang-raped before being strangled to death in an Uttar Pradesh village on Friday.

The incident in Firozabad district comes amid repeated claims by chief minister Yogi Adityanath about the state being almost crime-free, and adds to the atrocities witnessed against young women in Unnao and Hathras on his watch.

The girl’s father told reporters the Class X student had been missing since Friday afternoon, and that her body was found in an agricultural field on Saturday morning.

“Initially we thought she was visiting a friend. As time passed, we began a search but in vain. Ashwini Kumar, a villager, informed us early this (Saturday) morning that she was lying dead in the fields,” the father, a farmer, said.

“There were no clothes on her body. Her eyes had been removed and iron nails had been driven into her palms. We don’t know who committed the crime with such brutality and why.”

Pradeep Kumar, the officer in charge of the local Tundla police station, told reporters: “She may have been gang-raped. She seems to have been tortured and strangled. The investigation will reveal everything.”

Firozabad superintendent of police Sarvesh Kumar Mishra said: “We are waiting for the post-mortem report to understand what happened. The police are trying to identify and arrest the killers.”

Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said: “Criminals have become more active in the state than before. Nobody is safe here under the present government.”