The five men accused of raping and murdering two teen girls in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh have passed lie detector tests, said sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the case.
Experts at the lab in Delhi who administered the tests have said the men “do not appear to be lying” based on their responses.
However, CBI sources added, they are still awaiting information from other crucial forensic tests on evidence like the slippers of one of the girls.
The teen girls, aged 15 and 14, were found hanging from a tree in May. Locals refused to let the police bring down the bodies till arrests were made.
A post-mortem report said the girls had been raped and hanged alive. But state officials had suggested that their murder could be “an honour killing.” The fathers of both girls have been put through lie detector tests because of alleged inconsistencies in their accounts; the CBI says the results are awaited. The agency also says that the families concealed crucial information about the cellphone used by one of the victims.
The victims’ families say the cousins left their homes at night to relieve themselves in the fields. Relatives say they alerted the police that the girls had not returned, but the police did not intervene because they belong to a lower case.
The five men later arrested include three men from the upper caste Yadav community and two policemen.
