Chandigarh police said they identified a few suspects in the course of the investigation.

Two sisters were found murdered at their rented residence in Chandigarh on Thursday afternoon. Police said a few suspects have been identified, and efforts were on to bring them in for questioning.

The victims, identified as Manpreet Kaur (22) and Rajwant Kaur (23), were employed at a chemical factory in Zirakpur. They belonged to Abohar town in Punjab's Fazilka district, but were residing in Chandigarh for around three years.

According to police, the murder came light when the victims' relatives found their calls going unanswered and sent an acquaintance along to check on them.

Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police Nilambari Jagdale said both sharp and blunt weapons were used to murder the two sisters. "The names of a few suspects cropped up during the investigation, after which we sent teams to their residential addresses to establish if they were involved in the crime in any way," he added.

A case of murder has been registered at the Sector 17 police station.

This is the second such crime to have occurred in Chandigarh in less than a fortnight. An elderly couple was found stabbed to death at their Sector 40 residence on August 4. The couple had deep wounds on their necks and bodies.

According to data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau, Chandigarh witnessed 26.7% violence crimes - including murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery and dacoity - in 2017. The union territory ranked 20th in the country in terms of crime rate, while Delhi occupied the top slot with 77.5%.

(With inputs from Agencies)