Three adolescent sisters hacked to death in Bihar; two suspects detained

PATNA: Three adolescent sisters were found brutally hacked to death in their house in Bihar’s Banka district on Tuesday. Two suspects have been detained.

The incident took place at Karda village under Katoria police station when the three siblings were sleeping in their home on Monday night and their parents were away. Their mother, who had left for her parents’ home in Jharkhand’s Deoghar, returned on Tuesday morning to see the house locked from outside.

When she and some neighbours broke the lock and entered the house, they found the three girls’ bodies lying in a pool of blood in the bed, said police.

The three victims – Abhi Kumari, 14; Anita Kumari, 12; and Priyanka Kumari, 10 – were hacked to death by an axe or some other sharp-edged weapon. Banka superintendent of police (SP) Chandan Kumar Kushwaha and DSP Vinod Gupta reached the spot and supervised the investigation. A forensic team was also called in.

“The victims had cut marks on their necks and foreheads. While rape is not ruled out, it can be confirmed only after autopsy. We have detained two people, including a woman, based on the statement of the victims’ mother,” said the SP.

Parameshwar Yadav, the three victims’ father, and his son work at Asansol in West Bengal. They reached home hours after being informed.

Since no valuables were found missing in the house, police suspect that the three murders were either a revenge crime or an attempt to erase evidence of rape. The bodies were sent for autopsy to Banka Sadar Hospital.

Sources said the murders were linked to the illicit relation the victims’ mother allegedly had with her sister’s husband. “She continued to have the relations despite repeated protests by her sister and her children,” said a police official familiar with the investigation.

“An FIR has been registered, and the probe is in progress. We will ascertain and arrest the killers in a day or two,” said the SP.