Jajpur: Police have arrested a 34-year-old man on charges of raping a minor girl at Bitana village in the district.

The accused has been identified as Keshab Chandra Mallik of the same village within Binjharpur police limits. The medical examination of the girl has confirmed rape, the police said.

In his complaint filed with Binjharpur police, the girl's father said his 11-year-old daughter was raped at Mallik's shop at the Bitana market when she had gone there to buy chocolates with her nine-year-old sister.

"The girl visited the local market to make photocopies of the Aadhaar and voter identity cards of his father on Sunday afternoon. The girl's younger sister accompanied her. After photocopying the documents, the duo went to Mallik's shop to buy chocolates. He took them into the room of the shop on the pretext of giving them best quality chocolates and tried to rape them. The younger sister managed to come out of the room by biting the accused. But, Mallik raped the 11-year-old girl," said investigating officer Biranchi Narayan Panda.

The younger sister, who had escaped from the clutches of the accused, went home and narrated the incident to her parents. Her family members accompanied by the local people caught hold of Mallik and rescued the girl from his room. Aggrieved over the incident, the villagers allegedly beat the accused and ransacked his shop.

Later, the cops reached the spot and brought the accused to Binjharpur police station. Based on the FIR filed by the girl's father, the police arrested Mallik on Sunday night.

The police produced Mallik in local court on Monday and later remanded him to judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected.