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Updated: Feb 02, 2019 21:27 IST

The two minor girls, whose bodies were found hanging from an electricity pole in a Lakhimpur Kheri village on Friday evening, were strangled before being hanged, according to the post-mortem report, the Uttar Pradesh police said on Saturday.

The bodies of the girls, aged 14 and 15, were found hanging from the pole in the outskirts of Jheera Bojhi village of Lakhimpur Kheri district, 130 km north of the capital Lucknow.

Police said a murder case has been lodged on the basis of the post mortem report.

The Kheri double murder brings back memories of the Badaun incident of 2014 when bodies of two teenage girls were found hanging from a tree. The incident was suspected to be that of rape and murder. However, the CBI which probed the case concluded that it was not a rape and murder case but suicide.

Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police (SP) Poonam who goes by a single name confirmed that the girls were murdered by strangulation. However, she said the post mortem examination did not confirm sexual assault. “The vaginal swabs of both the girls have been sent for forensic examinationand viscera has been preserved,” she said.

Station house officer (SHO) of Pasgawan police station Satyendra Kumar Singh said the two girls, who were friends, were last seen by some villagers when they had gone to graze their cattle at around 2 pm on Friday. He said it was their daily routine to graze cattle and were accompanied by the younger brother of the 14-year-old girl. “The boy, however, had not accompanied them on Friday due to illness,” he added.

The SHO said signs of the bodies being dragged have been found near the spot that hinted towards murder. “The killers probably hung the bodies to portray the case as suicide,” he said

Additional director general (ADG) of police, Lucknow zone Rajeev Krishna said the girls’ family members were making contradictory statements about the incident. He said the police were trying find out the motive behind the crime, which would subsequently help in nabbing the criminals.

The ADG said he had directed the Lakhimpur Kheri SP to solve the case at the arliest. Deputy superintendent of police of Gola, Abhishek Pratap is monitoring the investigation.

“A number of persons have been interrogated, including those who first spotted the bodies hanging on the pole,” Pratap said.

Meanwhile, ASP Ghanshyam Chaurasiya, sub divisional magistrate (SDM) of Mohamadi BD Verma and several other officials visited the village. The SDM has recommended houses and monetary compensation to the bereaved families.

Also, several political leaders, including BJP MP Rekha Verma, SP district president Quayyum Ahmad, SP MLC Shashank Yadav, Kranti Kumar Singh and former SP legislator Sunil Lala, visited the victims’ families.

(With inputs from HTC, Lakhimpur Kheri)