Guwahati: One of the major suspects accused of raping and killing two minor girls who were found hanging from a tree in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh, was taken into custody after an encounter on Thursday.
The suspect identified as Junaid, was shot by the police in the right leg.
According to reports, he was the sixth and final suspect detained in connection with the horrible act.
A video that has been making the rounds on social media shows two police officers assisting the injured suspect as they are being carried out of a field.
The police said, Junaid is one of the two suspects out of the six people who were acquaintances with the children. The defendant escorted them to their motorcycles so they could follow them.
The family of the girls has rejected this assertion, claiming that no such friendship ever existed and that they were abducted instead.
The police said a man named Chhotu presented the dead to Junaid and Sohail.
“These two men took them to a sugarcane farm yesterday, where they raped them. After the girls said they would now have to marry them, they got angry. With help from Hafizul, they strangled the girls to death. Then they called Karimuddin and Arif, who helped them hang the girls to make it look like a suicide,” said area police chief.
All of the alleged criminals have been placed under arrest.
The girls’ father has called for the girls to receive the death penalty, and the state’s BJP government has promised to take “such action that the souls of their coming generations will tremble.” The case will be heard in a fast-track court.
Notably, on Wednesday in the Lalpur Majra Tamoli Purva village of Lakhimpur Kheri, the remains of two minor sisters who belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) were found hanging from a tree.