2 Minor Sisters Found Hanging From Tree, Family Alleges Rape-Murder

Lakhimpur Kheri: Two minor sisters were found hanging by a scarf from a tree in a sugarcane field at Tamoliapurwa village under the Nighasan police limits in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on Wednesday.

The deceased were identified as Poonam (15) and Manisha (17).

According to reports, the family of the deceased and locals alleged that three men from a nearby village had abducted the girls and suspect it to be a case of rape-murder.

“I was bathing inside the hutment when three youths of the neighbouring village arrived, one in a yellow T-shirt, another in a white one and the third in a blue T-shirt. They abducted my two daughters while they were cutting fodder,” the deceased’s mother Maya Devi told HT.

On being informed, the police arrived at the spot, recovered the bodies and sent them for postmortem. The cops have initiated an investigation to ascertain the cause of death and establish the sequence of events.

A large police force, including Inspector-General of Police, Lucknow Range, Laxmi Singh, and Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman, have been deployed in the area  They assured the villagers that the police would arrest the accused at the earliest.

“Four accused in the matter have been taken into custody. Interrogation is underway,” said Additional SP Arun Kumar Singh told mediapersons.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party demanded stringent punishment for the culprits, the reports added.