Ghaziabad, March 31 (IANS): Enraged over rape of a minor girl, a group of residents in the city lynched the rape suspect, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday midnight in Chaman Vihar locality under Tronika City Police Station limits of Ghaziabad district.

The police said that on Friday night, one Jitendra asked his neighbour to accompany him to a "Mata ka Jagran" programme to offer his prayers.

The parents of the minor, an eight-year-old girl, instead asked their daughter to go with him as she also wanted to go to offer her prayers.

During the return journey, Jitendra took the girl to his place, raped her and left her to go to her parents alone.

As the girl narrated the incident to her parents, the family informed their neighbours and they all reached Jitendra's place. They dragged him outside and started thrashing him.

After beating him hard, the crowd handed him over to the local police. later, he was taken to a hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

The girl has also been admitted in a local hospital.

The police have registered a case on the complaint of girl's parents. The lynched youth's family has also filed a case over the incident.

"The police had first registered a case under Section 376 of IPC against the culprit. But on the complaint of the rape accused's family, a case was also registered against the mob for lynching," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna.