Patna: A three-year-old child's body was found in Samastipur district on Sunday morning, and preliminary reports say she was raped and bludgeoned to death.

The child had gone missing from her uncle's house, under the jurisdiction of Dalsinghsarai police station in Samastipur district around 130km northeast of Patna, around 6am on Saturday. The child's father, a daily wage labourer, had lodged an FIR naming Ram Lal Mahto (25), a neighbour of the child's uncle.

Dalsinghsarai sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Kundan Kumar said Mahto had kidnapped the child, raped her in an agricultural field, and smashed her head with a hard, blunt substance. Dalsinghsarai police station house officer Naresh Paswan said Mahto was absconding. "Raids were conducted at his different hideouts but he could not be arrested," the SHO said.

Agitated residents blocked the Dalsingsarai-Vidyapatinagar road, indulged in arson, and pelted with stones police who had gone to restore traffic on the busy road.