Delhi: The rape and murder of two teenage girls in an Indian village threatened to touch off wider strife on Thursday, when the father of one of the girls said the crime was the product of a conspiracy among Yadavs, members of the dominant caste in the area.

The two girls, cousins who were 15 and 14, were found dead on Wednesday, their bodies hanging from mango trees in Katra Shadat Ganj, a village in Uttar Pradesh state. An autopsy confirmed that they had been raped and strangled.

Indian villagers gather around the bodies of two teenage sisters hanging from a tree in Katra village in Uttar Pradesh state, India. The victims' families allege that local police were shielding the attackers. Credit:AP

Indian police have arrested one man and are looking for four other suspects, police said on Thursday.

"We have registered a case under various sections, including that of rape, and one of the accused has been taken into custody. There were five people involved, one has been arrested and we are looking for the others," Budaun's Superintendent of Police Man Singh Chouhan told reporters.