
Pictured for the first time, these are the two teenage girls who were raped and murdered before their bodies were found swinging from a mango tree in northern India this week.

Three brothers today confessed to attacking and killing the young cousins, named Murti and Pushpa, in a case which has horrified India.

The crime provoked national outrage after it emerged that police in the village of Katra initially refused to investigate the girls' murder due to their low-caste status.

Warning: graphic content

Victims: Teenage cousins Pushpa, left, and Murti, right, were raped and murdered before their bodies were hung from a tree

Agony: Murti's father Sohan is comforted by his mother after the death of the young girl

Outrage: The scene in Katra village in northern India, where three men have admitted raping and murdering the cousins

Grief: The parents of one of the victims, Murti, have spoken of being sidelined by the police because of their low caste

The alleged killers - Pappu, Awadhesh and Urvesh Yadav - are members of the dominant Yadav caste, to which most of the local police also belong.

Low-caste villagers from the community in Uttar Pradesh state have expressed concern that they could also be targeted in the wake of the horrifying attacks.

Police officer Atul Saxena said today that the three men arrested over the crime had admitted their guilt while being held in custody.

He added that the authorities are still searching for two more suspects, and have prepared identity sketches in a bid to track them down.

Horror: The two girls were found hanging from a mango tree after going missing on Tuesday night

Demands: Protesters march in support of bringing the girls' killers to justice

Gathering: Villagers standing and watching the arrival of a helicopter carrying Mayawati, a leading Uttar Pradesh politician

Protection: Bodyguards for Mayawati stand guard near the tree where the bodies of the two girls were found this week

Handshake: Family members of the victims met with Meera Kumar, former speaker of India's parliament

Visit: Leading politician Rahul Gandhi spoke to concerned locals on a trip to Kastra yesterday

Scene: Police and locals guarding the tree where the two girls were found dead

In addition to the three suspected murderers, two police officers have been arrested for allegedly ignoring the victims' parents when they reported that the girls, aged 14 and 15, had gone missing.

The girls' murder has prompted protests in New Delhi and other Indian cities, in an echo of the outpouring of grief which came when a student was raped and killed on a bus in the capital in 2012.

In their home village, poor locals described their worries that they would be vulnerable to a similar attack in the future.

Murti and Pushpa disappeared on Tuesday night after going to a field near their home to relieve themselves, because they do not have their own toilet.

Studies: The mother of one of the girls holds on to her daughter's schoolbook

Bereaved: Murti's father Sohan paid tribute to his daughter, saying she was a keen linguist

Despair: Murti's mother said she wants the killers to be hanged in order to secure justice

Mourning: Sohan is keen to see his daughter's killers brought to justice

Poverty: The girls were killed while relieving themselves in a field because their house does not have a toilet

Most low-caste families are in the same situtation, with only the richest residents have access to a private bathroom.

'We are scared,' villager Renu Devi told CNN. 'If this could happen to them, it could happen with us also.'

Murti's father Sohan vowed to seek justice for his daughter as he described how she was a keen language student at the private school where he paid for her education.

'She liked studying English,' he told the Independent on Sunday. 'And when she completed school she wanted to get a job.'

Concern: Villages in Katra, where locals say they are worried they will be targeted for retribution by the police and other high-caste people

Investigation: Villagers look on as police continue the probe into the death of teenage cousins

Fury: Women participate in a protest in New Delhi after the case caused outrage across all of India

Vigil: An activist lights a candle on the Delhi pavement as part of memorial protests

Yesterday, his wife called for the killers to be executed, saying: 'Money can't bring back my daughter but the hanging of her killers would give peace to her soul.'

And Pushpa's father Babu Ram accused the police of ignoring his family because they belong to the Dalit caste - formerly known as 'untouchables'.