Deoria killings: Victims’ brothers among 4 held

This is what four men,arrested by the Deoria police on Friday in connection with the murder,have told investigators.

They are Aneeta’s brother Ghanshyam and uncle Daddan,and Neeta’s brothers Manoj and Manohar. Deoria Additional SP Dr Jawahar said they had confessed to the crime. He added that no one from Sarita’s family was involved in the crime.

The police recovered the blood-stained shirt of Daddan from the bushes near the field where the bodies were buried. The shirt is part of Daddan’s uniform at a Mumbai firm where he worked. On information given by Ghanshyam,the police have also found the blood-stained shawl of one of the girls. The sticks and spades used in the crime have also been found,but these had been cleaned up.

The girls,all from Singahi village,had disappeared on October 31,but their families did not lodge any complaint. The next day,Sarita’s head was found beside a railway track near the village. On November 4,the bodies were found. Almost immediately,the men from the families did the vainishing act. The women who were left behind did not turn up to claim the bodies.

Police sources said they got the first clue from persistent questioning of the women and arrested Daddan who did not take long to break down. He led the police to the other three accused.

Daddan told the police that he came from Mumbai on a visit home on October 18 when his nephew Ghanshyam told him that his sister was bringing a bad name to the family. He told Daddan that Aneeta and two of her friends went out every evening and returned late. The talk in the village was that they had boyfriends. Although no one had seen the boys,the girl’s routine had become a matter of shame,Ghanshyam reportedly told his uncle.

Deoria SP M D Karnadhar said Daddan kept a watch on the girls for some time which confirmed what Ghanshyam had told him. The two also discussed the matter with Neeta’s brothers. No male member in Sarita’s family was in the village.

On October 31 evening,about an hour after Aneeta went out,Daddan and Ghanshyam went out to look for them. They first went to Neeta’s house and asked her brothers to accompany them,said Station Officer of Bhatni Raj Kumar Choudhary. They carried sticks and torches.

The police said Daddan told them that they found the girls in a field which is about a kilometre away from the village and near a railway track. They asked three about “the boys”,but they gave no satisfactory replies following which they beat them to death.