In a shocking reminder of the 2014 Badaun girls’ death case, bodies of two teenaged sisters were found hanging from a tree in Barola village in Noida’s Sector 49 early on Tuesday. The incident triggered panic in the village and police teams had to be deployed to maintain law and order.
The bodies of the sisters, aged 18 and 13, were discovered by the locals. The rented room in which her parents lived was locked from outside, suggesting that the girls may have committed suicide, said the police. The incident comes three and a half years after two minor cousin sisters were found hanging from a mango tree in Katra village in Badaun. The case had triggered national outrage after it was alleged that the girls were gang-raped and murdered.
Murder allegation
Although the police are, for now, treating the Noida deaths as suicide, the victims’ mother has accused a distant nephew, Ravi, of murdering her daughters.
According to the mother, the girls were asleep when she checked on them around 3 a.m. Around 4 a.m. she realised that the two were missing, but did not react assuming they had gone to attend nature’s call. The family learnt about the girls’ death only after a neighbour discovered their bodies hanging from the tree and raised an alarm.
“I had gone to fetch water from the tap. While returning home I spotted something suspicious near the tree. I flashed the torch on the tree and saw the bodies of the two girls hanging from it. I immediately raised an alarm and called out to their parents who live on the first floor,” said Kavita, the neighbour.
“No one had touched the bodies... the two were hanging from the same tree,” said the landlord, Prakash. “Their clothes were not torn and there were no injury marks. Their slippers were placed properly near the tree.”
A police team reached the spot and brought down the bodies. They unlocked the door of the parents’ room after which they came out and saw their daughters’ bodies.
According to Noida Superintendent of Police A.K. Singh. prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide. However, there are a few aspects in the case which suggests otherwise. The cops have collected some evidence from the scene and are scanning phone calls record to get some lead in the matter.
