13-year-old girl raped, strangled to death in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri; 2 held

Lakhimpur Kheri/Gorakhpur: A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped and strangled to death in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district, following which two men have been arrested, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Friday under Isanagar police station limits, they said.

The teenager had gone to her fields on Friday afternoon. When she did not return home till late evening, her parents and relatives started looking for her. They noticed some dragging marks near a sugarcane field and found her body, the police said.

The girl's father has denied enmity with anyone in the village, they said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Dhaurahra, Abhishek Pratap along with Isanagar police officials rushed to the spot and carried out preliminary investigations which led to the arrest of two men on Friday night, they added.

"On the complaint by the deceased's father, two youths identified as Sanjay and Santosh have been arrested," DSP Pratap said.

An FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code besides the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST Act, he said.

Pratap said reports that the girl was brutalised were not true.

Earlier, there were reports about injuries to the girl's eyes and tongue. However, the post-mortem conducted by a panel of doctors showed no such thing, he said.

"The post-mortem report stated the cause of the girl's death was strangulation after rape," he said.

Meanwhile in another incident, a teenage girl was allegedly raped and singed with cigarette butts by two men in the Gola area of Gorakhpur district. The girl was found unconscious on Saturday and is currently undergoing treatment at the district hospital, Police added.

The police have registered a case against one Arjun of Dehribhar village and an unidentified man on the basis of a written complaint from the survivor's mother.