A 16-year-old girl was hacked to death allegedly for lodging a molestation complaint with the police against the nephew of a village 'pradhan' (panchayat chief) in Uttar Pradesh's Baharaich district, about 200 kilometres from here.
According to the father of the victim, the pradhan of Bishunapur village, identified as Ibrahim, and his goons kidnapped the teen from his house late on Saturday night.
''We tried to save the girl but the kidnappers were armed and outnumbered us,'' the distraught father said.
The blood-stained body of the teen was recovered from an orchard near the village on Sunday. Police said that she had been hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon.
Police sources said that a week back, the teen had lodged a complaint accusing the nephew of the pradhan of 'molesting' her. The police had arrested the accused, identified as Chhotkau, after the complaint was lodged.
The victim's family members said that the 'pradhan' was ''very angry'' after his nephew's arrest and had threatened them with serious consequences.
A case was registered against the village pradhan and some others in this regard and pradhan was taken into custody. ''We have arrested the main accused... he is being quizzed... a hunt has been launched to nab other culprits,'' said a senior police official in Baharaich.
Earlier also several girls had been killed, some even burnt alive, in the state for daring to approach the cops with complaints of rape and molestation.