Paradip: Gadaharishpur village in Jagatsinghpur district was tense on Wednesday after the body of a nine-year-old girl was found in a forest.

The girl had gone missing since Tuesday. Villagers, who had gone to the forest to collect fuel wood, spotted her profusely bleeding body lying in the forest on Wednesday morning. The villagers suspect that the girl was raped before being killed. Inspector in charge of Erasama police station Bichitranand Sethy said they had formed a special team to crack the case and nab the culprits.

Irate villagers squatted on the Gadabishanpur-Padmapur Road and disrupted vehicular movement for several hours in protest against the incident. Till last reports came in, the police were not able to shift the body from the spot of the crime to the headquarters hospital for post-mortem due to the protest.

However, a forensic team went to the spot to collect evidence. In another case of suspected murder, the body of a labourer was recovered from a prawn dyke in Gadabishanpur village on Wednesday. A case of murder has been registered and the body has been sent for post-mortem.

Rape arrest

Nilagiri police in Balasore arrested five persons, including an a former zilla parishad member and a woman, for their alleged involvement in the gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl of neighbouring Mayurbhanj district.

The accused persons have been identified as former zilla parishad member Dhaniram Singh, 48, Sunaram Singh, 37, and his wife Lily Singh, 32, Susanta Singh, 27, and Badal Singh, 20.

Inspector in charge of Berhampur police station Gopal Singh said that all the accused persons, except Lily Singh, were booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and several sections of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act. Lily has been booked under Section 109 (abetment to rape) of the Indian Penal Code.

"They have confessed to committing the crime. We are now trying to trace the victim," said Singh.

Additional reporting by Sibdas Kundu