BELGAUM: A 20-year-old

college student

was

gang-raped

and

murdered

at

Sulebhavi village

, 20 km from here, on Friday. The girl’s half-naked body was found in a farm on the outskirts of the village the next morning.

Police sources said the rapists had smashed her face with a stone and written “Maratha” on her body in Devanagari script before fleeing the place.

Sources said the victim was kidnapped on Friday evening when she was returning home after writing an examination in Belgaum. She was a student of the Government Degree College here.

The girl’s father identified the body on the basis of her clothes and footwear. Her family members waited for her till Friday evening and looked for her all night. They filed a police complaint on Saturday.

Police superintendent Sandeep Patil and deputy commissioner Munish Moudgil visited the spot. Police have formed three teams to nab the culprits, the SP said. Moudgil called it a most heinous incident, and said the accused deserve to be hanged.

Hundreds of residents and college students blocked the road near the village bus stand. They withdrew the roadblock after an assurance from the SP and DC.

This is the second gang rape and murder of a college student in Belgaum district in the past three months. A pre-university student was gang-raped and killed in Athani in January. The rapists had burnt the body after killing her. Police are yet to arrest them.