A seven-year-old girl was abducted by a man and bludgeoned to death with a brick after a failed rape attempt here, police said on Saturday. The accused was arrested following an encounter with police.

The incident took place on Friday evening when the girl had gone to the market to buy vegetables, they said.

After the girl did not return home, her family members started looking for her and found her semi-naked body inside an abandoned house. After the girl's family lodged a complaint, several police teams including Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel launched a search for the accused, they said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Brijesh Singh said CCTV footage from the surrounding areas was scanned on Friday night on the basis of which the accused, Jaane Alam (22), was identified.

Alam was arrested following an encounter on the Beenpur road at 4 am on Saturday. Constable Manoj was injured as Alam opened fire at the police team. The police team retaliated and he was shot in the right leg, the SSP said.

Both the injured are undergoing treatment at a hospital, he added.

During interrogation, Alam revealed that he tried to rape the girl but when she started shouting, he hit her head on the wall several times. He then killed her by hitting her on the head with a brick and fled by jumping from the back wall of the house, Singh said.

An illegal country-made pistol and ammunition were recovered from the accused, he said.

The SSP said the exact cause of the girl's death will be known after the post-mortem report comes.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.