india

Updated: Oct 30, 2017 12:04 IST

The Motipur police in north Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district have lodged a murder case after bodies of two minor sisters were found hanging by a tree at a village on Sunday.

The police suspected thee double murder to be honour killings. Preliminary investigations revealed that the girls — Gudiya Kumari, 16, daughter of Dhodha Paswan and Gunja Kumari, 14, daughter of Jailal Paswan, both cousins — were involved in separate love affairs, the police said.

The family members had cremated their bodies and were absconding, the police said. This had raised suspicion that they intentionally tried to destroy evidence, the police added.

The abandoned house of the victims at Korigawan village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. ( HT photo )

Deputy superintendent of police (Muzaffarpur west), Krishna Murari Prasad, who visited the scene of the crime, said the villagers told him that there were no ligation marks around the neck of the deceased.

“The tongue of the deceased also did not come out, as is generally happens when someone is either hanged or commits suicide by hanging self,” said Prasad. This, he said, raised suspicion that the cousins could have been killed elsewhere and then hung to a tree at a private mango orchard in Mahwal village in Motipur police station area.

The Mahwal village, where the bodies were recovered is 1 km away from the Korigawan village, where the victims used to stay in Muzaffarpur district, around 70 kms north of Patna.

“We have not been able to record the statement of victims’ family members as they are absconding. However, some villagers said both the girls were students of a nearby government high school. They also told us that the girls were involved in love affairs. It may be possible that the family members resisted their affair and killed the two girls to save the dignity of the family,” the deputy SP added.