The body of an 8-year-old girl who had gone missing was on Thursday found in a field with locals lynching one man whom they claimed was part of a group which had gang-raped and murdered her, police said.
"A girl, aged between 8 to 9 years, was found dead in a field this morning in Kalibazar village of East Midnapore district. The father of the girl has lodged a complaint against 3 persons, one of whom has been lynched by villagers," District Superintendent of Police Sukesh Jain told PTI.
"The girl was missing since 5 pm yesterday evening. The family members and locals searched for her in the locality, but she could not be located," he said.
"Today morning, she was found dead 200 metres away from her house. Police was informed and our men rushed to the spot," Jain said.
"The body of the girl was found on the ground by the police. However, the locals alleged that she was found hanging from a tree and had been brought down by them," the SP said.
Accusing Ratan Das, whose residence is only 15-20 metres away from the girl's home, and two of his associates of gangraping and murdering the girl, locals thrashed them and ransacked Das's house, he said.
"The police rescued the trio. While Das succumbed to his injuries, the two others have been admitted at a hospital," he said. Das was in his mid-forties.
The body of the girl has been sent for postmortem, Jain said.
