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Death of two Pilibhit sisters - mother, brother among three held for murder
Two days after a 20-year-old woman and her 17-year-old sister were found dead in Bilsanda area of Pilibhit district, police on Thursday arrested the brother and mother of the deceased accusing them of honour killing
Two days after a 20-year-old woman and her 17-year-old sister were found dead in Bilsanda area of Pilibhit district, police on Thursday arrested the brother and mother of the deceased accusing them of honour killing.
The sisters went missing from their house on Monday evening. The body of the younger sister was found in a field while the elder sister’s body was found hanging from a tree on Tuesday. The owner of the brick kiln where the sisters worked was also arrested for aiding the accused by failing to report the incident to police.
The police have booked the accused for murder under Section 302 and for criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Police are also trying to identify other relatives who helped the accused in committing the crime.
“The two sisters were murdered by their family members who were upset with them for having affairs even after their marriages were fixed. Based on the evidence collected in the case, call recordings, mobile phone location, post-mortem report and confession of the accused, we have arrested Ram Pratap Sharma, 28, the elder brother of the sisters, Kamladevi Sharma, their mother, 50, and Ali Hasan who is the owner of the brick kiln where they worked,” said superintendent of police (SP), Pilibhit, Jai Prakash.
The brother and the mother confessed to the police that they caught the sisters speaking to men on their phone on night of March 22. When they inquired about it, the two said something which enraged their brother. In a fit rage, Ram Pratap (the brother) and their mother tried to strangle the elder sister. When the younger sister opposed it, they caught and strangled her too.
“While the younger daughter died at the spot, the elder one fell unconscious. The duo with help of a relative dumped the body of the younger girl at a distance from the house. The duo later hanged the elder girl at a different place to misguide police. She was unconscious at the time but died because of hanging,” said the SP.
“The accused (Ram Pratap) informed the brick kiln owner about it and sought his help in disposing of the bodies but the latter did not agree to it. However, the brick kiln owner didn’t inform the police about it and neither did he reveal the truth when interrogated hours after the bodies were recovered,” the SP added.
Earlier the post-mortem investigation had revealed that the younger girl died after being strangled while hanging led to the death of her elder sister. “The post-mortem investigation ruled out any possibility of injuries, torture or rape with the sisters,” the SP said,
The post-mortem report prompted the police to focus their investigation on the suspected involvement of people close to the girls, including family members, in the crime. As per police sources, the suspicion grew after a police team recovered the same kind of rope at the house of the deceased which was used in hanging the elder sister.
Initially, their family members did not name anyone in their complaint. On Wednesday, they alleged that the two sisters were raped and murdered by two men with whom they were in touch with.
“The allegations made by the family were found to be false during the investigation. The mobile locations of the men accused by the girls’ family were not found near the place from where the bodies were recovered. In fact, the mobile location of their brother was traced to those places,” said the SP.
