Cooch Behar, March 14: Mystery surrounds the death of a 16-year-old schoolgirl, whose body was found hanging from a tree last night with her feet touching the ground.

Relatives and friends of the girl have alleged that she was raped and murdered before the assailants hanged her body from a tree to fool police. The incident, they said, took place when the Class VI student of Katamari High School, was alone at her house in Balagram, about 30km from here.

“Her brothers Tapas and Mithun had gone to attend a wedding feast when the incident happened. Her stepmother Purnima, who lives in the adjacent house, was not at home either. We will wait for the post-mortem report to reach a conclusion,” said Gautam Ghosal, inspector-in-charge of the Kotwali police station.

The girl’s mother, Pobitri, and father, Ratneswar Barman, work in brick kilns on the outskirts of Mumbai, said the police. They added that the girl was “not very attached” to her parents.

The body was spotted by Tapas when he started searching for his sister after not finding her at the home.

The girl was supposed to sit for a history exam today.

Swapan Routh, who taught her at school, dismissed the possibility of the girl committing suicide.

“She was a happy girl. I do not believe she has killed herself. Everyone in the area is saying that she was raped and murdered,” said Routh.

The school remained closed today.

Ghosal said the police were looking into all aspects of the case to determine the cause of death.