A nine-year-old girl, who was found unconscious with a grievous head injury at Krishnasamudram village near Manapparai in the district, died in hospital on Sunday.

Manapparai Police, who initially registered a case under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder), subsequently altered it to murder following the death of the minor, who was a class IV student.+

On Sunday afternoon, police sources said, information about the unconscious girl inside a garden a few metres away from her house was passed on by a 14-year-old boy residing near her house.

Police personnel conducted inquiry at the crime scene where they found blood stains on a stone, school uniform and T-shirt.

The girl was rushed to Manapparai Government Hospital from where she was referred to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi. She died late on Sunday.

The post-mortem was conducted on Monday and the body handed over to her parents. Manapparai Police detained the 14-year-old boy on the charge of committing the crime after questioning him.

The sources said the boy allegedly hit the girl with a stone after she warned him that she would inform his mother about his reported attempt to kiss her while playing together.