Police said after committing the crime, the accused buried the girl's body in a village, around 10 km from her house.

They took turns to rape her, then they lynched her. The gang of five didn't stop there. They then brutally hit the 14-year-old - particularly on her face - with bricks, stones and lathis so that no one would be able to identify her. The savage manner in which the minor was attacked has shocked even the police.

The incident took place in Kundli village of outer Delhi's Narela area, bordering Haryana. Police said after committing the crime, the accused buried the girl's body in a village, around 10 km from her house.

The victim's family has accused the police of laxity in taking prompt action despite the fact that they had informed the Sonepat police (Haryana) about the incident. The police reportedly took almost eight hours to arrest four of the accused, who were roaming free in nearby villages. The police have registered a case.

The gruesome incident happened when the victim's family was returning from Narela after watching Ravana dahan on Thursday. They had to walk back home since they couldn't find any vehicle to reach the village from Singhu Border.

After reaching Singhu border, the girl and her brother got separated from the family. The girl then asked her brother to take her on his bicycle which he had parked at a petrol pump. Around 10pm, when the duo was about to enter the village, the five men who were in an auto-rickshaw intercepted them and tried to abduct the girl. When the brother intervened, they hit him with a rod and kidnapped the girl," a family member said.

The girl's relatives found her brother lying by the roadside when they were about to enter the village.

Auto used by rapists

"He told us that five goons had kidnapped his sister and fled the spot after injuring him. The relatives immediately called the police who reached the spot. However, they didn't act swiftly to locate the auto-rickshaw used by the criminals," the family member said.

Early on Friday morning, the police managed to locate the auto along with one of the accused. He identified himself as Nitin and said he was driving the vehicle. Nitin confessed to the police that he along with four others - Praveen, Deepak, Karan and Sandeep - had gangraped the girl in Janti Kalan village and then killed her.

"On the basis of interrogation, Praveen, Deepak and Karan were arrested. Incidentally, one of the accused lives in the same village where the victim stays," a police officer said. The police said they were shocked by the gory details. "One investigator left the room after listening to the horrifying tale. The accused told us that they took the minor to Janti Kalan, which is hardly three kilometres from Kundli village and gangraped her. Later, they started beating her with lathis, stones and bricks. They also said they wanted to smash the face of the victim so that no one would identify her," a police officer said.

The accused told the police that after killing the girl, one of the accused suggested they bury the body to destroy evidence. So, they took it to another village - Nagal Kalan - located almost 10 km from the crime spot.

"The accused buried the body near a construction site so that no one could dig it out. But, our team caught the accused and exhumed the body within hours. The body was handed over to the family after autopsy," a police officer said.

SHO Deeraj Kumar of the Kundli Police Station said the police were looking for absconding accused Sandeep. Three of the five accused are auto drivers. They hail from a nearby village.

They were produced in a local court, which sent them to one-day police remand. The police said barring Sandeep, who faces minor theft charges, none of the others has a criminal history.