The ransacked house of the tantric who is suspected to have raped and murdered the girl in Rajnagar village, East Midnapore district.

The tree from which the two sisters were hanged after being allegedly gang-raped in UP's Badaun.

(With inputs from IANS)

NANDAKUMAR (West Bengal): A seven-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree around midnight on Wednesday at Rajnagar village in West Bengal's East Midnapore.The minor girl was found with her clothes ripped off which led the villagers to suspect that she was raped and then murdered. A local tantric (witch doctor), who has a past history of sexually assaulting young girls, is the prime suspect in the case.He and two of his associates were severely beaten by the villagers when the trio was trying to flee Rajnagar last night. One of them died while the other two were rescued by the police and admitted to a local hospital.The victim, a Class III student of a local school, went to buy herself some snacks after returning home from school on Wednesday evening. When she did not return home, her father Soumitra Barman alerted neighbours who began searching for the girl.The search continued till late into the night. Villagers thought the girl might have been playing and had accidentally fallen into a pond. They searched ponds and paddy fields in the village besides making inquiries into the neighbourhood.They later discovered her body hanging from a tree."She was sexually assaulted and killed. When we brought down the body, blood was oozing out," said a villager.The Bengal incident happened about two months after two teenaged cousins were gang-raped and hanged from a tree in Katra Sadatganj village of Badaun district.