A minor girl was allegedly raped and killed in a village in Mathura in the early hours of Tuesday, the police said.

The incident happened in a village under Yamunapar police station. The victim’s uncle told reporters that a local man allegedly took his niece and his own niece with him on Monday evening without informing anyone. “We kept searching for the girl the whole night. At around midnight, we informed the police. Early morning, the police found her body in the fields outside the village. Without clothes, it was covered in blood,” he said. The relative claimed that during the search they found that the accused first left his niece at his sister’s place in a neighbouring village and then took the other girl to the fields.

Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Grover said, “The body has been sent for post mortem and the report is awaited. The witnesses have claimed the culprit is a local, who took the two girls to a village grocery shop. He is absconding,” he said.

The SHO of Yamunapar police station said an FIR has been registered against the accused for kidnapping and murder.

Locals suggested more than one person could be involved in the crime.

Earlier, agitated locals shouted slogans and it took the police some time to bring the situation under control.