In a shocking incident, a 13-year-old Dalit girl has been allegedly raped by a man who after that tried to bury her alive in a pit in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday evening following which the 35-year-old accused was arrested, and the girl, whose condition is serious, has been referred to a hospital at Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra, they said.

The girl had gone to a farm in a village under Ghodadongri police station area to switch off a motor and on finding her alone, the accused allegedly raped her, Betul Superintendent of Police Simala Prasad said.

In a bid to conceal the crime, the accused then dragged her to a drain and dumped her in a nearby pit which he covered with stones and thorny bushes, the official said. When the girl did not return home till late evening, her parents and sister started searching for her, he said.

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