A 40-year-old man accused of raping and murdering a minor girl in Alipurduar was beaten to death by angry villagers on Friday afternoon, a few hours after he allegedly committed the crime.

Mona Roy purportedly confessed that he had raped and murdered the girl, prompting the villagers to take the law into their own hands.

After the incident, a large contingent of police reached the village. They recovered both the bodies and initiated a probe.

Sources said a five-year-old girl had gone missing from a Kali Puja pandal on Friday afternoon.

When the family members and relatives searched for her, some boys told them that they had seen her going with Mona.

The villagers gathered and went to Mona’s house. They reportedly spotted him cleaning his hands and feet which were drenched in blood. Soon, some others spotted the girl’s body floating in a pond that was near the house.

“The villagers caught hold of Mona who reportedly admitted that he had lured the girl with jalebi and brought her to his home.

He admitted that he had raped and murdered the girl and thrown her body in the pond,” said a source.

The angry villagers tied Mona to a tree and started beating him. He was brutally assaulted and died on the spot.

When police arrived to recover the bodies, local people put up resistance.

After a couple of hours, the villagers allowed the police to takeaway the bodies to the Alipurduar district hospital for post-mortem.

“It is an unfortunate incident. Policemen have been deployed in the village. An investigation started,” said Y. Raghuvamshi, the superintendent of police of Alipurduar.

In Alipurduar, this is the second such incident in the past 20 days.

Earlier, another minor girl was raped and murderedand attempts were made to set fire to her body to wipe off the evidence.