The bodies of two teenage girls were discovered hanging from a tree by in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on 29 October, Motipur police said.
The police told Hindustan Times that the two have been identified as cousins, Gudiya Kumari, 16, and Gunja Kumari, 14. The police told the daily that the double murder is an act of honour killings.
The family members cremated their bodies and were absconding, the police told the daily. This had raised suspicion that they intentionally tried to destroy evidence, police were quoted as saying.
Krishna Murari Prasad, Deputy superintendent of police (Muzaffarpur west), who visited the scene of the crime, told HT that the villagers told him that there were no ligation marks around the neck of the bodies.
“The tongue of the deceased also did not come out, as is generally happens when someone is either hanged or commits suicide by hanging self. This, raised suspicion that the cousins could have been killed elsewhere and then hung to a tree at a private mango orchard in Mahwal village in Motipur police station area,” Krishna Murari Prasad, DSP, Muzaffarpur west, told Hindustan Times.
The girls, daughters of Dhodha Paswan and Jailal Paswan, hail from Korigawan village, around 70 kilometers north of Patna.
(This is a developing story and will be updated.)
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