Patna: The body of a 17-year-old Intermediate student who had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon was found floating in a canal in Rohtas on Wednesday morning.

Police though have ruled out sexual assault based on the post mortem report though residents of the area the girl belonged to alleged she had been raped before being murdered.

The murder touched off violent protests, forcing police to carry out a lathi charge to control the situation.

The girl, Narwanti Kumari, a resident of Lodhi Barao village in Rohtas district, had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon. Her father Kameshwar Prasad told the police that Narwanti had gone to the local bank to withdraw the money which she had received from the government after passing her matriculation (Class X) examination this year.

The government provides Rs 10,000 to students from the Scheduled Castes who have scored over 60 per cent marks in their Matriculation exam.

The family members started a search for the girl, an Intermediate student at a local college, when she didn't return home till late in the evening. Her mobile phone was also switched off. The family received information about the body of a young girl floating on the water in the canal near the railway crossing on the outskirts of Lodhi Barao village around 11pm on Tuesday.

Sasaram Mufassil sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Rajesh Kumar said the police recovered the body from the canal around midnight on Tuesday and sent it to the sadar hospital at Sasaram for post mortem. The examination was conducted on Wednesday and the body was handed over to the family.

As news of the murder spread, a number of residents of Sasaram blocked National Highway 2 connecting Calcutta and Delhi that passes through the district and disrupted traffic near the Post Office chowk. They also indulged in arson and pelted the police with stones. However, the situation was brought under control after the intervention of senior police officials. Traffic on the busy highway remained disrupted for over four hours.

SDPO Rajesh ruled out any sexual assault on the girl. "Her clothes were found intact. There were no marks of external injury on the body of the deceased," Rajesh told The Telegraph over phone. The protestors, on the other hand, alleged that the girl was killed after being raped.

Rajesh, however, hastened to add that the case was being probed from all angles. The family members told the police that they didn't have any enmity with anybody and so they didn't apprehend the involvement of any local resident in the incident. "It's a blind case and the post mortem is awaited," Rajesh said.

An investigating officer said the girl was returning home from the bank on foot. The road that leads to her village is normally deserted and the involvement of some miscreants in the murder can't be ruled out, he said.

"The body was found in the canal adjacent to a bush, which raised suspicion over the involvement of some miscreants in the incident," the police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

SDPO Rajesh also scotched rumours that another young girl had been raped and her body was thrown into a canal. "We have not received any such complaint so far," he said.