The accused was caught by cops but he managed to escape. (Representational)
A three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man who kidnapped her while she was asleep in her house at a village in Madhya Pradesh's Katni district on Sunday, police said.
The incident took place at Amehata village under the Kymore police station limits around 3 am, Katni's Superintendent of Police Sunil Jain said.
The accused allegedly kidnapped the child when she was asleep in her house. The family members woke up and started looking for the girl who was later found near the house, he said.
Villagers claimed that a man, who worked in a cement factory and lived in the neighbourhood, had committed the crime, the official said.
Based on a complaint lodged by the victim's family, a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered and a search has been launched for the accused, he said.
Meanwhile, villagers staged a protest around 8 am, claiming that the police's emergency response vehicle had caught the accused, but he managed to escape from the vehicle.
After a complaint by the child's family members, a head constable was suspended, the official said.
The girl, who was seriously injured, was referred to the district hospital from Vijayraghavgarh health centre, and later shifted to Jabalpur Medical College for treatment, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)