Ranchi, Oct 16 (IANS): A minor girl waas gang-raped and killed in Jharkhand's second capital Dumka on Friday, the second such incident in the Santhal Pargana region of the state in the past one week.

According to the police, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped and murdered in Thadi village under the Ramgarh police station in Dumka district on Friday.

The girl had gone to attend her tuition classes on her bicycle. After she did not return home for a lone time, her family members launched a search operation and found the bicycle on the roadside. Soon after they discovered her body from inside a bush by the roadside. The police later recovered a few condoms from near the body.

The police suspect that the girl was first gang-raped and then killed. The body has been sent for post-mortem.

The police have launched a search operation to nab the culprits.

On October 9, a minor girl was gang-raped by five boys in Jharkhand's Sahebganj district. The miscreants left the body of the girl on the roof of her house. Initially the police tried to hush up the case and suggested to settle the matter at the village panchayat level.

The family members were pressurised and the body was cremated.

After the issue was highlighted by the local media, four accused persons were arrested on October 12. The body of the minor girl was exhumed on October 13 for medical examination, which confirmed gang-rape.