Two admit to Badaun gang-rape

Two of the five people arrested in connection with the gang-rape and murder of two minor girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district have reportedly confessed to their crime, police officials said here on Sunday.

Though the cops did not disclose the identity of the duo, sources said they are brothers. The police have arrested all the five main accused. Among them are two cops and three brothers, who are residents of the same village. Two more accused are yet to be traced.

Politicians, in the meantime, made a beeline to Katara village to meet the family of the victims and assured them of all possible help and justice. BSP supremo Mayawati and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar visited the family of the victims on Sunday.

Mayawati, who arrived at the village by a chopper, threatened to embark on a “dharna” if the family was denied justice. She also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the victims. “The family members told me that they would accept compensation only from me and not from any other party or politician,” Mayawati later claimed.

Mayawati’s visit was, however, mired in controversy after it was reported that Dalit children were made to clean the ground to prepare a helipad for her chopper's landing.

Local Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav also paid a visit to the family and promised an impartial inquiry into the matter.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday recommended a CBI probe into the incident.  The two teens, both cousins, aged 14 and 15, had gone out to answer the call of nature on Tuesday night and did not return. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree in a mango orchard outside the village on Wednesday morning.