KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — A toddler whose body was found in a plastic bag and dumped in a drain in Kepong on Thursday had been murdered.

Police said the post-mortem showed the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.

City Criminal Investigations Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Rusdi Mohd Isa said the post-mortem results also found the child had bruises on both legs and arms.

"The skull was cracked. The bruises were found to have also been inflicted by a blunt object,” he said.

Rusdi said the unidentified child died between 10 and 14 days ago and was aged between four and five years.

He said a member of the public had come forward to identify the body but could not do so due to the advanced stage of decomposition.

"We have taken a DNA sample from this person to see if it matches the child’s DNA.”

On Thursday, a foreign worker cleaning a drain at Kampung Chin Lee, off Jalan Kepong, detected a foul odour and found a plastic bag containing the child’s body in the drain.

The child was fully clothed and wearing a diaper.

In an unrelated case in Ipoh, police detained a couple in connection with the death of a two-year-old Indonesian girl who was believed to have been a victim of abuse.

In a statement yesterday, Perak police chief Datuk Hasnan Hassan said the suspects were arrested on Thursday and ordered to be held under remand for a week to facilitate investigations.

The girl died on Wednesday after she was taken to Teluk Intan Hospital from Kuala Bikam in Bidor.

The post-mortem found the girl died from brain haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma.