A 15-year-old schoolgirl in Chas, 4km from Bokaro steel city, died fighting off her three assailants - one of them her landlord's son - on Sunday afternoon, prompting police to arrest the trio from Phusro railway station early on Monday before they could make good their escape.

Police have neither confirmed nor denied sexual assault while the accused - Ashish Pathak (22) and his friends Abhilash Banerjee (20) and Golu Karmakar (21), all residents of Chandrapura - have pleaded a break-in attempt gone awry. A bike on which the three rode 15km to Chas has been seized.

Family sources said the murder, which took place around 2pm, came to light around 7pm on Sunday after the orphan girl's bua (father's sister) returned to their Patel Nagar home in Chas from a relative's house. The woman found the Class VIII student sprawling on the floor near the bed, her tongue sticking out of her mouth in a clear indication of death by strangulation.

Neighbours told the woman that three youths in their early twenties were seen entering the house and leaving after sometime. Since Ashish, son of late landlord Birendra Pathak, was jobless and often came by to make depraved overtures at the girl, the needle of suspicion pointed towards him.

The victim's phufa (paternal uncle), who runs a grocery business in Chas and was away at work at the time of the attack, informed police and named the suspects.

Bokaro SP Y.S. Ramesh said Ashish and the others were nabbed from the railway station, 34km from the steel city, around 5am on Monday. Asked if the girl was raped before being strangulated with a gamcha (towel), the SP refused to comment before the post-mortem report arrived.

During the arrest, police found Rs 2,200 in cash, two imitation gold chains and a silver anklet on the trio. Ashish has claimed that their intention was burglary.

"We did not want to kill her, but only make her unconscious so that she would not scream while we cleaned out valuables from the house. We didn't strangle her; we put the gamcha on her mouth to gag her, but she suffocated to death," he told police.

Chas inspector Kamal Kishore said they were probing the claims. "We fear the girl screamed on being assaulted and the gang tried to shut her up, thus suffocated or strangulated her. It is not clear if they were successful in their immoral motive before the girl died trying to save herself. The medical report is awaited," he added.

Uncle of the victim has demanded capital punishment for the trio.

"My niece was a student of Class VIII (in a Chas school). She was a bright girl who ranked in class every year. We were planning to raise her into an engineer or an IAS officer. Those who killed my darling child should be sent to the death row," he said.