A girl on her way to school was allegedly abducted from Chai Bagan locality under Namkum police station on the outskirts of the city at 7.30am on Saturday.

The incident was reported to police by another young girl, a resident of Kali Nagar, who saw four men forcing the girl in school uniform into a Maruti Omni.

The witness, who was standing close to the spot where the kidnapping took place, told police that the men would have bundled her into the car too had she not run away.

“The terrified girl came running to the police station and told cops everything that she saw. She said the kidnapped girl was crying for help,” a person who lives close to Namkum police station said on the condition of anonymity.

Police had not been able to make any headway till 3pm.

“The identity of the kidnapped girl is yet to be established. Nobody has lodged a complaint in this connection till now,” the resident said.

The resident said the incident had sparked concern in the neighbourhood as it came in the wake of rapes and sexual assaults reported from across the country.

Police have kept the girl, who had witnessed the abduction, in safe custody and are taking her help in tracking down the kidnappers.

“She is being taken to various locations to ensure that the abductors can be identified,” the local resident said.

Superintendent of police (rural) Rishav Kumar Jha said the information was being verified. “We are collecting CCTV camera footage from the locality from where the girl was abducted. It is difficult to say anything as no one has turned up to register any case. We are trying to contact various schools in the locality and get some clue,” Jha added. Senior superintendent of police Anish Gupta said the same.

Incidents of sexual violence against women are being reported with alarming regularity from various parts of the country, including Jharkhand.

On Thursday, the dead body of a 12-year-old girl was recovered along with an injured 10-year-old girl from the forest area at Piparwar in Chatra district. On Friday, the injured girl died, too. Local residents, who believe the girls were victims of sexual assault, held protests outside Piparwar police station on Friday.

On November 26, a law student was gang-raped in Kanke in the state capital.