Bihar police on Saturday attached the property of the main accused in the alleged murder of a Dalit minor girl whose body was recently dumped into a pond after abduction and suspected rape.

According to Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police, a warrant had been secured from the court against Sanjay Rai, whom family members of the deceased have accused of picking up the girl from their house earlier this week.

“We had pasted on the wall of Rai’s house a court notice in which he had been asked to surrender by Saturday noon. Since he did not turn up, his property is being attached. We have also launched a search operation and hope to arrest him at the earliest”.

Rai, who is said to be middle-aged, has been accused of putting pressure on the girl’s family to let them get married and allegedly kidnapped her on the intervening night of August 11 and 12.

The girl’s body was later found in a pond near her village in the Paru police station area, with her legs tied, and cut marks on her head, neck and arms, said to be caused by a trowel which was found close by.

Although the inquest and post-mortem examination did not find any injury marks on private parts, family members of the girl suspected that she might have been raped, and a vaginal swab has been sent to a forensic lab, the police said.

The victim was forcibly taken away on Sunday night from her house in the presence of her parents.

Her body was found in a semi-naked condition in a pond on Monday. Her mouth was gagged and there were several injuries and bloodstains on her body.