One of the persons accused in the alleged rape and murder of a minor in West Bengal’s Baruipur was killed in an alleged gunfight with the police, ANI reported on Wednesday.

When the crime scene was being reconstructed, Prabhas Mondal attempted to snatch a weapon from the police and open fire at them, the news agency quoted the district superintendent of police as saying.

The police fired at Prabhash Mondal “in retaliation”, the officer said. He was declared dead at the hospital.

Prabhash Mondal was among the three persons arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur town in South 24 Parganas district.

The body of the girl was recovered from a sack in a pond in the Surjyapur area, a day after she was reported missing.

The case was initially registered as a missing person complaint on Saturday after her father reported her disappearance. Following the preliminary investigation, police added charges of rape, gang rape, murder, destruction of evidence and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The incident triggered widespread protests, with demonstrators blocking roads and a railway line, burning tyres and vandalising police vehicles.

During the unrest, residents allegedly caught two suspects and assaulted them. A 26-year-old man suspected of being associated with the persons accused in the matter was also lynched by a mob on Sunday.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that the man who was lynched was innocent.

The police have also detained local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Santanu Mondal on allegations of helping one of the suspects escape, The Telegraph reported.

The police alleged that Santanu Mondal had intervened after residents caught the two suspects and took them to a police outpost. Officers at the outpost were outnumbered when the crowd again attacked the suspects.

“The force was outnumbered and the mob started to thrash the men again, alleging the BJP leader was trying to help them,” a police officer told the newspaper. “The prime accused, Ananda Sardar, took advantage of the chaos and fled.”

Ananda Sardar was arrested later on Monday. Besides Prabhas Mondal, the third person arrested in the matter was Dibakar Sardar.

The state government has set up a Special Investigation Team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Pinaki Dutta to investigate the case.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.