A pregnant woman has been booked for allegedly locking her nine-year-old stepdaughter in a box, police said on Tuesday.

A case under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused woman Shilpi, but she has not yet been arrested.

According to police reports, the nine-year-old girl Radhika was reported missing on Monday evening. When police rushed to her house, they found her inside a box in an unconscious condition.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ayush Vikram Singh said that the girl later told police that her stepmother had locked her inside the box.

The minor's father, Sonu Sharma married Shilpi after getting a divorce from his first wife. Radhika was living with them, police said. (SJ/IANS)