The 20-year-old woman was assaulted by four upper caste men at her village on September 14 (File)
The accused in the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old Hathras woman have been lying and spreading rumours to save themselves, the victim's brother has said, after the main accused - in a letter to the Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday - alleged the woman's family had killed her as it was opposed to their "friendship".
The victim's brother has also refuted the Uttar Pradesh police's claim that he had been in contact with the main accused, Sandeep Thakur.
"They are finding ways to save themselves and trying to peddle lies and fuel different rumours. We have never been in contact with the accused," he told news agency ANI.
"Show me the call recordings. These are fake and baseless records," he told NDTV.
Thakur, who is in jail along with the three others, wrote the letter to the police in Hathras, claiming that he and the 20-year-old woman were "friends". "Apart from meeting, we used to speak on the phone once in a while," he wrote in Hindi. The letter had the thumb impressions of all the four accused.
"On the day of the incident, I had gone to meet her in the fields that day where her mother and brothers were also present. I returned home after being asked by her to do so. I then started feeding cattle," he wrote, claiming innocence in the case that has triggered outrage across the nation.
"I later got to know from the villagers that her mother and brothers beat her up over our friendship, injuring her badly. I have never beaten her or done anything wrong with her. Her mother and brothers falsely accused me and three others and sent us to jail. We're all innocent. Request you to please investigate and get us justice," he added.
The victim's father has dismissed the allegation. "The accused are the accused. They will say anything in their defense. There is nothing we can say about that," he was quoted by news agency ANI as saying on Friday.
The Dalit woman, who was allegedly gang raped and brutally assaulted on September 14, died of her injuries two weeks later in a Delhi hospital. Her body was taken to her native place, where the UP Police and the administration conducted her funeral in the dead of the night, allegedly without the family's consent.
The incident has triggered a massive political storm. Several politicians, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, met with the family amid resistance from the local administration.
The opposition claims the Yogi Adityanath government is pressuring the family to protect the upper-caste accused.
With inputs from ANI