Darbhanga, Jan. 13: An 11-year-old girl was killed and suspended from a mango tree at Surhachatti village under Ashok Paper Mill police station this morning.

Family claimed the girl, identified as Mausam Kumari, a Class III student of Surhachatti Primary School, was murdered by their neighbours over a property dispute.

Mausam had been missing since Thursday evening.

Today, some villagers found her body hanging from a tree in a mango orchard, around 1.5km from her house.

Mausam’s family members claimed the child was murdered by their neighbour Ramashish Mahato to avenge the murder of the latter’s nephew, Anil Kumar (25).

“Ramashish’s son tricked Mausam, my niece, into going out with him. The boy told my niece that her father (absconding in Anil’s murder case) was waiting for her at the mango orchard. There she was first killed and then hung from a branch of the tree,” Mausam’s uncle Vishwanath Mahato told The Telegraph.

He said his neighbour Ramashish and his family members had taken revenge on them for the murder of Anil on November 18 last year. Ashok Kumar Mahato, Mausam’s father, is one of the six accused named in the murder case.

Vishwanath further said: “My brother Ashok was falsely implicated and named an accused in the murder case along with Vikas Kumar Mahato, Shankar Kumar Mahato, Ramvilas Kumar Mahato, Laxmi Kumar Mahato and Bindeshwar Kumar Mahato.”

“We are locked in a land dispute with Ramashish and many cases in this connection are pending in the civil court for over a 100 years now. First they (Ramashish) accused my brother of being involved in Anil’s murder and when Ashok went missing, they targeted my niece and killed her,” he said.

Police have registered a case of murder and have sent the body for post-mortem to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital.

According to sources, the way the body was suspended (legs folded in kneeling position) suggested that the child had been killed first and then tied to the tree.

The police, however, refused to comment on the death before checking the post-mortem report.

The police sources said: “Altogether 11 persons have been named accused in the Mausam murder case. Those named in the FIR include Ramchandra Mahato, Ramashish Mahato, Raj Kumar Mahato and eight others.”

Darbhanga city superintendent of police Kumar Akle told The Telegraph: “A case of murder of a child in connection with a land dispute has been registered at the Ashok Paper Mill police station today. Investigation is on. It is too early to comment on what transpired at the mango orchard. The body has been sent for autopsy to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital and the report is awaited. We can comment on the crime only after getting the report.”

On Mausam’s family’s allegation that the murder was a revenge crime, Akle said: “Each and every case is independent. If there is any correlation between this case and the earlier one (Anil’s murder), it will be probed. The deceased’s family is free to accuse any person but the veracity of the claim has to be probed.”