After the minor girl was lured away by a local youth on Saturday evening in Murshidabad district’s Ranipur village, her neighbours allegedly caught him sexually abusing the child in a nearby forest.

A friend of the victim’s father said, “I was talking to her father on the roof when the child was playing outside. Suddenly, a boy took her in his arms and left. We followed them and found him much later.”

The villagers caught the youth and beat him up before handing him over to police.

Additional Superintendent of Police Majid Iqbal said the youth has been arrested and is being interrogated.

The child was unconscious at the time of her rescue and is undergoing treatment for critical injuries.

In the other incident, an 18-year-old tribal woman was found dead in a pond at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district after being missing for three days. Her body was discovered with her hands and legs tied, her mouth gagged and a brick tied to her waist.

Local residents reported seeing her riding pillion on a motorcycle with a man in his early 30s.

Superintendent of Police Hossain Mehedi Rehman said that a murder investigation was underway and that the autopsy report would determine the exact cause of her death.

The two incidents come to light after a court in South 24 Parganas district sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a minor girl in Jaynagar. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee praised the police after the trial, conviction and sentencing were over in 62 days.