A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by a youth, who was later lynched by angry villagers at Patrashayar in Bankura district on Tuesday evening.

Police sent the bodies of the girl and the accused to the Bishnupur subdivisional hospital for postmortem.

The 10-year-old girl had been missing since Monday evening. Villagers said they had last seen the girl with the deceased youth, Lalu Prasad Lohar, on Monday evening.

The police said Lohar was questioned by villagers as he was last seen with the girl.

"Villagers told us that Lohar was drunk and gave contradictory statements when they questioned him about the girl's whereabouts. The villagers got angry and started beating him up," said the investigating officer.

The villagers claimed that Lohar later broke down and confessed to the crime.

"The youth, the villagers said, confessed to his crime and escorted them to a neighbouring forest where he had dumped the girl's body. He had also tried to dig a grave to bury the girl," said a police officer.

The angry villagers later beat up Lohar with bamboo sticks till he slumped to the ground.

A large contingent of police rushed to the spot and took control of the situation. Lohar was severely injured, and the police rushed him to the nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

"We have started a case in connection with the lynching, and an investigation is on," said Vaibhav Tiwari, superintendent of police, Bankura.