A missing teenage girl was found hanging unclothed from a tree near the BDO office, at Sitai in Cooch Behar district on Wednesday, a police officer said.
The locals alleged that the class 10th student, who was missing since last night, was raped and murdered. They also initially refused to let the police take away the body.
Police, however, said that the actual cause of death could be known only after the postmortem examination.
The family members of the teenager lodged a complaint, stating that she went out of residence last afternoon and did not return. The family and villagers then conducted a search and came across her body at a deserted spot, police said.
In November last year, a 16-year-old girl in Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal was raped and murdered while returning from tuition, triggering massive protests by locals.