Unnao case: Jilted lover among 2 held; gave pesticide to girls

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday held two people in connection with the deaths of two teenage girls at an Unnao village, accusing them of murder over a one-sided love affair.

The third victim in the case is battling for life at a hospital.

One of the accused held in the case is a teenager, according to police.

"Vinay Kumar, alias Lambu, and a teenager have been held in connection with the case. The matter is a fallout of a one-side love affair.

"The accused gave some pesticide with water to the three girls," Lucknow Range IG Laxmi Singh told reporters in Unnao.

Both accused are residents of Pathakpur village in the Ashoha area and were held on a tip-off, the IG said.

During interrogation, Vinay told police that he was involved in agriculture and owned a piece of land at Baburaha village, near the spot where girls were found on Wednesday night.

According to police, Vinay told them that the girls used to go to the fields for fodder and they became friends during the coronavirus lockdown.

He had a one-sided love affair with one of the girls.

"We used to play and eat together in the field. I had a one-sided love affair with her. When I proposed her, she rejected. When I asked her this month to give me her phone number, she did not give due to which I was angry and decided to kill her," Vinay told police.

"On Wednesday, I mixed pesticide in a water bottle and asked my friend to bring snacks. The three had it and when they asked for water, I gave them the water bottle in which pesticide was mixed and they drank it. I had left their bodies in the field," the IG said quoting Vinay's confession.

Apart from Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, police have slapped Section 201 against the accused for causing disappearance of evidence.

Earlier in the day, the last rites of the two teenage girls were performed amid tight security arrangements, officials said.

Komal, 15, and Kajal, 14, were buried in their agriculture fields in the presence of senior officials and police personnel.

The district officials had made elaborate arrangements with heavy deployment of security personnel and barricades installed.

The security personnel covered about one kilometre on the four paths reaching the village with a magistrate-level official posted at every barricade to check people.

Personnel from six police stations were deployed.

The bodies were brought to their village after a post-mortem was done on Thursday but the last rites could not be performed on the day, police said.

Unnao District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said talks were held on Thursday with the dead girls' family, who were not willing to take it up immediately as they were waiting for their son to arrive from another city and had cited that the funeral cannot be done as it was already sunset.

The DM refuted reports of any pressure being exerted on the family and said the last rites were performed as per their wishes.

When asked if the family has made any demand, the DM said officials, including the ADM, were present on the spot but they did not give any 'demand letter'.

The DM claimed despite the presence of some outsiders, there was peace in the village.

The district unit president of BJP, Raj Kishore Rawat, and local MLA Anil Singh were present during the funeral.

On Friday, Bahujan Samaj Party legislators walked out from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly over the incident, alleging that police did not take prompt action in the case.

The party moved an adjournment notice with BSP Legislature Party leader Lalji Verma alleging that police did not take any action on the day of the incident and accused the government of adopting a lax attitude.