Two sisters found shot dead in UP’s Etawah, police probing sexual assault

Two sisters, one of them a minor, were found shot dead in a field outside a village in Etawah Tuesday morning, further sullying Uttar Pradesh’s unenviable reputation as the topper in crime against minors in the country.

Police said both were shot more than once. One of the girls was 19 years old, the other was 14.

The girls had left their house to answer nature’s call on Monday night and did not return. The family first informed the local police and then mounted a search in and around the village. Ram Kishore Shakya, the father of the girls is a farmer in Kailamau village, about 190 km from Kanpur.

The bodies were discovered in an open field early Tuesday morning.

“I have no idea why my daughters were killed. We have no rivalry with anyone. I learnt about their deaths as we were searching for them,” police quoted Shakya as saying.

Police denied that the girls were raped but said an autopsy will establish whether they were sexually assaulted.

“We are investigating the two murders and a forensic team is working at the site,” said Jitendra Srivastava, additional superintendent of police (crime).

Police suspect a country made pistol was used in the shootings.

The double murder comes on the heels of the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl by a 19-year-old man late on Monday during a wedding in Etah.