A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district and her body was recovered on Sunday morning, the police said.

The girl, from Musahari village, was at a neighbour’s house on Saturday to watch television, and had left for home after 10pm. But she did not return till late night and her family raised an alarm.

The local people informed the police. “During our search operation, we recovered her body from a maize field under Musahari police station,” a police official told DNA. The fields are barely 500m from her home.

“Her clothes were found metres away from the body, along with some evidence of struggle and assault,” he said, adding, “It appears she was raped before being killed. Injury marks were found on her body, which has been sent for autopsy. The picture will be clearer once we get the reports.”

Sniffer dogs have been called to help the police with the investigation. No arrests have been made yet. The outraged locals demanded quick action against the perpetrators of the crime.