Six men were arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged rape and murder of two teenage Dalit sisters here, police said.
The girls, aged 15 and 17, were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field about a kilometre from their home in Nighasan police station area on Wednesday.
Police sources said the post-mortem report stated that the girls were raped while strangulation was confirmed as the cause of death.
According to preliminary investigation, the two sisters left their home on Wednesday afternoon with two of the accused, Junaid and Sohail, Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjiv Suman told reporters.
"Junaid and Sohail have confessed to strangulating the girls after raping them," Suman added. The SP also said Junaid and Sohail were allegedly in a relationship with the two sisters.
"We have arrested Junaid, Sohail, Hafizur Rehman, Karimuddin, Arif and Chottu in an overnight operation," said Suman. Junaid was arrested following an encounter around 8.30 am, the police said.
The motorcycle used in the crime was also recovered. The police have also seized a country-made pistol and ammunition from him. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said Junaid was injured in the encounter. "The bodies have been handed over to the girls' family, who will conduct their last rites," Kumar said.
SP Suman said the clothes of the other accused have also been sent for examination as part of a detailed probe. A case has been registered against them under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Suman also dismissed claims that police used force to send the bodies for post-mortem. The post-mortem had been conducted with the family's consent and in their presence, he said. Videography of the post-mortem examination was also done, the SP added.
The victims' mother lodged a complaint at Nighasan Kotwali police station late on Wednesday night, alleging that her daughters were raped and murdered. She alleged that three motorcycle-borne unidentified youths, along with her neighbour Chhotu, stormed her hutment and abducted her daughters. When she resisted, one of them kicked her and took the girls on a motorcycle towards the fields outside the village, the victims' mother alleged.
The family later found the girls' bodies hanging from a tree in a field a few hundred metres from their village, she said. After the incident came to light, the villagers staged a demonstration at Nighasan Cross.
The police took the bodies into custody and sent them to the district headquarters in an ambulance shortly after, while SP Suman and Assistant Superintendent of Police (APS) Arun Kumar Singh spoke to the villagers to assuage them. -- PTI