MUMBAI: A 17-year-old girl who had eloped to Mumbai with her boyfriend from Uttar Pradesh was allegedly gang-raped and murdered by her father and his friend on October 31 in the jungles of Kashimira . She was reportedly four months pregnant .

The accused men were arrested on Monday and remanded in police custody till November 15. “They have independently confessed to the rape and murder,” said senior inspector Fatehsinh Patil of Kashimira police.

The girl had eloped with her 19-year-old boyfriend from their village of Komalpur in UP’s Ghazipur district four months ago. The couple had a wedding ceremony in a temple and were staying in Bhayander(West).

Two weeks ago, the girl’s 45-year-old father, a labourer, tracked them down. He and his friend — a resident of Dachkulpada Road of Kashimira — went to the girl’s house and dragged her away. The boyfriend, who works as a labourer, allegedly fled during the encounter.

At his friend’s home, the father urged the girl to return to their hometown but she refused. Incensed, he and his friend forcibly took her into the jungles at Dachkulpada in Kashimira on the night of October 31. The girl was first raped by the father, who then asked his friend to repeat the act to “teach her a lesson”, said the police.

Fearing she would report the sexual assault, they strangled her with her dupatta. The body was left at the spot. They returned to the jungle the next day to confirm the girl was dead and moved the body into some bushes.

According to the Kashimira police, the murder came to light when the father, in a drunk state, mentioned raping and killing his daughter to a waiter in a hotel in Bhayander on Saturday. The waiter informed his boss, who alerted the Kashimira police. On Monday, police picked up the father, who led them to the decomposed body. His friend was arrested on Tuesday morning.

The father told the police that she was four months pregnant and that she had eloped with the boy earlier in the year too. He had convinced her to return home on that occasion. He said the elopement had “tarnished the family name” and her frequent elopement for “sex was the reason he raped her and got his friend to do so too”.

The father and his friend have been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (gang rape), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 34 (common intention). The police are searching for the girl’s boyfriend.