Two Dalit minor sisters were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district on Wednesday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Poonam (15) and Manisha (17). Till now six men have been arrested, according to media reports.
The accused have been identified as Suhail, Junaid, Hafizul Rehman, Karimuddin and Arif. A sixth man, Chhotu, a neighbour of the girls who allegedly introduced them to these men, has also been arrested.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the mother of the two victims, Maya Devi, said that the accused forcefully took away the sisters on a motorcycle. The FIR mentions one named and three unidentified accused.
As per media reports, Maya Devi has alleged that the girls were raped and then murdered. She further said that the accused assaulted her when she tried to stop them.
Laxmi Singh, Inspector General of Police, Lucknow Range, said the girls were found hanging by their own dupattas and there are no visible injuries.
The girls were taken to a sugarcane field and raped by Suhail and Junaid, district police chief Sanjeev Suman told reporters.
Meanwhile, villagers held a demonstration at Nighasan Cross to protest the killings.
Sanjiv Suman and Assistant Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh talked to the irate villagers in a bid to console them while a heavy police force was deployed to ensure law and order.
The incident has triggered a war of words with opposition hitting out at the Adityanath-government over law and order.
Taking to Twitter, Samajwadi Party tweeted, "In Yogi government, goons are harassing mothers and sisters every day, very shameful. The government should get the matter investigated, the culprits should get the harshest punishment."
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also targeted the state's BJP government. "The incident of murder of two sisters in Lakhimpur (UP) is heart-wrenching. The relatives say that those girls were abducted in broad daylight. Giving false advertisements in newspapers and TV every day does not improve law and order. After all, why are heinous crimes against women increasing in UP?" she tweeted in Hindi.
