Autopsy confirms cousins were raped

The samples from the girls’ bodies have now been sent for pathological tests and their report is awaited.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested Pappu Yadav, one of the five people accused of raping and murdering the girls, and suspended constable Sarvesh, who along with another head constable, is accused of being party to the murder.

The victims’ family said the two girls (aged 15 and 14) had gone to relieve themselves in the fields when they were taken into a nearby jungle by Pappu Yadav, his brothers Awadhesh and Urvesh (residents of the same village) and two other unidentified people.

According to the complaint of the victims’ family, when they went to lodge a missing complaint at Katra Saadatganj police station, head constable Chhatrapal and constable Sarvesh had turned them away.

The girls were found hanging from a tree near the village on Wednesday morning. Angry villagers stopped the police from taking the bodies until the senior officers pacified them.

An FIR was eventually lodged for gangrape, murder, conspiracy and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at Usait police station against the three brothers, two unidentified people and constables Chhatrapal and Sarvesh.