Honour killing was witnessed in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, where a 16-year-old pregnant Dalit girl was brutally attacked and killed by her father and elder brother and then her body was mutilated for 'bringing shame' to the family.

The father has confessed and arrested but the brother is on the run, police said. The body was recovered on Tuesday and police cracked the case within hours. The girl had been missing since September 23 but no complaint was lodged by the family.

According to reports, the girl was beaten and strangled to death. Her head was severed from the body which was then buried near the river bed.

"The father has confessed to having killed his daughter because she was pregnant. People had started insulting him publicly. The girl's elder brother is also involved in the murder and we have booked both of them under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence)," Shahjahanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) S. Anand told reporters.

"We have also questioned the mother and other relatives but their involvement has not been established," he added.

During preliminary inquiry, the family told police that the girl was living with a relative.

The girl, who was never sent to school, never informed her family about her sexual encounter. It was only when her baby bump started showing that the family came to know about her pregnancy.

She did not reveal the name of the person responsible. Police are trying to find out about the person, who could be the rapist as she is a minor.

"We are also trying to identify the person responsible for the girl's pregnancy as having a sexual relationship with a minor girl is also a crime," SSP Anand said.