Three persons were arrested today in connection with the killing of three Dalit sisters, two of them minor, a day after they were found dead in Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, police said.
The killings were allegedly result of one-sided love on part of one of the accused with the eldest sister,18, Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar told reporters.
Bodies of the 18-year-old, along with her minor sisters, were found with serious head injuries near Katiyari village yesterday, a day after they went missing.
They sisters were killed to destroy evidence, he said.
He said four persons, were involved in the murder. Of the four, two were arrested yesterday morning and the weapon used in the triple murder recovered. Two suspects are still at large, according to the police.
The police also arrested another person for giving shelter to the accused.
Superintendent Kumar said that post-mortem was conducted by a panel of doctors, including two women experts, which did not confirm rape.
The incident led to demonstration by local residents who demanded Rs 50 lakh as financial assistance to their family.
Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes PL Punia met the family members of the girls and said he would try that the Uttar Pradesh government extends financial help of at least Rs 10 lakh to them.
Terming the incident as "unfortunate", he said family members of the girls were very poor and had not been provided house under Indira Awas scheme.
He also slammed the state government alleging that there was complete 'jungle raj' in the state.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each to policemen who worked out the murder case of three sisters.
Principal Secretary Debashish Panda said the policemen would also be felicitated with commendation disk.
Taking serious note of the incident, the government had directed to work out the case at the earliest and Special Task Force was also deployed, Mr Panda said.
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