Teen gangraped, ‘ set afire’

UP HORROR The 17yearold was alone at home; police not ruling out suicide

KANPUR: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped and burnt alive in Majhgawan area of Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh by two men on Sunday evening when she was alone at home, police said.

They said the accused also attacked the girl’s younger brother with sticks and an axe when he accidentally showed up and identified them. But the boy managed to escape.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Hamirpur, Sahab Lal Yadav said they have launched a hunt to arrest the two men named in the FIR.

“Prima facie it appears that the girl committed suicide after she was allegedly raped. We are questioning some people about the whereabouts of the accused,” Yadav added.

The family, however, alleged that the accused, Sonu and Sunil, had set her on fire after raping her.

The girl’s brother said his sister was alone in the house when two men from the same village reached there and raped her.

“I had gone to my grandmother’s house for some work. I returned at around 6pm and found the front door locked, I scaled the wall and entered the house from the roof,” he said.

“I felt a strong odour of charred flesh and saw the two men standing near the body. A bottle of kerosene was lying there. When I raised an alarm, the two men charged at me with sticks and axe. I managed to escape,” he said.

He ran to his grandmother’s house nearby and informed his parents who were attending a marriage ceremony.

The father who is a farmer alleged in the FIR that the two men also took away cash and jewellery that they had bought for her girl’s marriage which was scheduled in April this year with a man from Madhya Pradesh.