Two minor girls, whose bodies were found hanging from an electricity pole in a Lakhimpur Kheri village on Friday evening, were strangled before being hanged according to the post-mortem, Uttar Pradesh police said on Saturday.

The bodies of the girls, aged 14 and 15, were found hanging from the pole in the outskirts of Jheera Bojhi village of Lakhimpur Kheri district, 130 km north of Lucknow.

The Kheri double murder brings back memories of the Badaun incident of 2014 where bodies of two teenage girls were found hanging from a tree. The incident was suspected to be that of rape and murder. However after investigation, the CBI concluded that it was not a rape and murder case but suicide.

Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police (SP) Poonam who uses only one name, confirmed that the girls were strangulated. However, she said the post mortem examination did not confirm sexual assault. “The vaginal swabs of both the girls have been sent for further examination,” she said.

The SP said an FIR of murder has been registered against unknown assailants on the basis of the post mortem report findings and that further probe was on. She assured that the killers would be arrested soon.

The two girls went missing when they had gone to graze their cattle at around 2 pm on Friday. Some villagers and their family later spotted their bodies hanging from a pole and informed local police.

The double murder had caused a flutter in the area and heavy police force had to be deployed in the village to maintain law and order.

First Published: Feb 02, 2019 19:07 IST