The body of a Class XII student, missing since Tuesday evening in Nadia’s Krishnanagar, was found in a semi-clad condition with her face burnt near a Durga Puja pandal on Wednesday morning.

Police in Krishnanagar, around 113km north of Calcutta, have arrested the boyfriend of the victim, with whom she had reportedly gone for an evening snack on Tuesday before she went missing.

Krishnagar accused is Rahul Basu, 24. The victim's parents sell flowers on the roadside in Krishnagar.

The incident comes at a time Bengal’s ruling Trinamul is facing heat over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta.

The suspected sexual assault and murder of the Class XII student happened the same day chief minister Mamata Banerjee participated in a Durga Puja Carnival at Calcutta’s Red Road, while those seeking justice for the RG Kar victim were holding a protest meet.

Locals at the pandal in Krishnanagar town’s Ramkrishnapara saw the body early in the morning.

According to a police officer in Krishnanagar, the victim had an affair with the boy but over the last few days their relationship had hit a rough patch.

Last evening the youth had asked to meet her, and she left her home around 7pm without informing anyone. The girl lived with her grandmother, aunt and uncle.

“As the victim had not returned home till 9pm, her grandmother called her parents and informed them that their daughter was yet to return home,” said a police officer.

The body was found at a spot that is a stone’s throw distance from the office of Nadia’s superintendent of police. The residents who spotted the body alerted the cops.

“The face was in such a condition that none of the residents could recognise her. We suspect she was killed elsewhere and the body was dumped near the Puja pandal,” said a police officer.

On hearing about an unidentified corpse being found, the victim’s family rushed to the police station and identified her.

The victim’s family alleged that the youth had raped and killed her.

“She used to stay over at his place on some nights. Last night when a call was made to his phone, he claimed she was sleeping and started abusing us,” said a family member.

The victim’s grandfather went to the boy’s house on Wednesday morning but could not find her. When questioned he allegedly made some incoherent statements, after which the family lodged a complaint against him.

“The victim has been identified and the body sent for post-mortem. As this is an on-going investigation we cannot reveal any further details. We are hopeful that the case will be cracked soon,” said Sanjay Kumar, additional superintendent of police.

The boy is being interrogated.

A Congress delegation led by the party’s Bengal unit president Subhankar Sarkar left for Krishnanagar on Wednesday afternoon.

The local MP, the Trinamul’s Mahua Moitra, is yet to comment on the death of a young girl in her constituency.