A 16-year-old girl was murdered in an area falling under the jurisdiction of Parsa Bazar police station in rural Patna on Tuesday night, and it is suspected that she was gang-raped before she was killed.

The Class IX student had gone to attend the call of nature in a field around midnight, and her body was recovered from a paddy field on the outskirts of Shahpur village, around 12 km south of the capital, on Wednesday morning.

The girl's relatives - who had been searching for her since she went missing - suspect rape as her body was semi-nude when residents spotted it and informed the Parsa Bazar police.

The Parsa Bazar police station house officer (SHO) said the body has been sent to Patna Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem examination.

"It seems that the attackers decided to kill her as she could have identified them," the SHO said. The police have picked up three persons for interrogation, and a forensic team has collected samples from the spot where the body was found.

"The post-mortem report will help the police ascertain whether the girl was raped before being killed," the SHO said. Last week, a 23-year-old girl - whose identity is yet to be ascertained - was shot dead by a group of four youths at a place close to the Punpun river, which is hardly 1.5km from the spot where the 16-year-old girl's body was found.

Local residents had revealed to the police that the 23-year-old girl was seen with four men in an SUV. Additional superintendent of police Rajesh Kumar said that prima facie it appeared to be a case of property dispute.