Bhopal: A 12-year-old girl whose beheaded body was found last week in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh had been raped by her three brothers and uncle, police said on Tuesday.

Police said they have arrested two of the accused brothers and the uncle, and they have confessed to the crime. They told the cops that they had gang-raped the minor girl at the uncle’s house and chopped off her head to conceal her identity.

According to the police, the eldest brother, 22-year-old, did not let the girl go to school and instead took her to their uncle’s house in Banda town of Sagar, where he raped her first.

The two other brothers - aged 17 and 19 – then took turns to allegedly rape the girl. Their 40-year-old uncle also joined in and raped her, police said. The autopsy report has revealed that the accused also engaged in unnatural sex with the victim.

After the rape, when the girl asked her brothers to tell about the incident to her family and police, they beheaded her with a sickle and dumped the body in a farm, the cops said.

According to the police, the eldest brother has confessed that he had also raped her in the past and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. He is still on the run, police said.

The girl’s aunt, after learning about the rape and murder, did not try to save her and instead allegedly become an aide to her husband and nephews. She helped the four concoct a false story behind girl’s alleged abduction and murder, pining the blame on a local family.

The family had earlier alleged that the girl was kidnapped and murdered by a rival Kurmi family due to an old feud.

Sagar SP Amit Sanghi said the police would make girl’s aunt also an accused in the case over her role in abetment of the crime.

On Thursday, almost eight hours after the girl’s family reported she hadn’t returned from school, her headless body was recovered from Banda town.

The police have recovered the blood soaked clothes of the girl and the weapon used in the crime.