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Bahraich (UP): A man out on bail for his brother's murder in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich has been arrested for killing his widowed sister-in-law and her three daughters by allegedly pushing them into a river with the help of an associate, police said on Thursday.
Anirudh Kumar, a resident of Ramaipurva village in Bahraich, was jailed in connection with the 2018 murder of his brother Santosh Kumar over a property dispute, ASP (Rural) Durga Prasad Tiwari said.
After securing bail a few months after the murder, Anirudh began living with his brother's wife, Suman, 36, after coercing her into a relationship. They had two daughters -- six-year-old Anshika and three-year-old Laado, said the officer.
Suman also had a 12-year-old daughter, Nandini, from her marriage to Santosh.
As Suman was a key witness in her husband's murder case, Anirudh had been asking her to change her testimony, but she refused to budge.
Suman had recently shifted to her maternal home with her three daughters. On August 19, Suman's mother, Rampata, lodged a police complaint that her daughter and the three girls had been missing since August 14. She suspected that Anirudh and an associate of his had kidnapped the four, intending to kill them.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Anirudh at Gayghat bridge in the Motipur area. During interrogation, Anirudh admitted that with the help of his partner, he had called Suman and the three girls to Mihipurwa town on August 14.
He then took them to a bridge on the Sharda River in the Khamharia area of Lakhimpur Kheri district and pushed them into the river, the officer said.
The ASP said police have recovered clothes of Suman and the girls, the shoes of one of the girls and the motorcycle used in the crime from bushes near the spot. However, the bodies have not yet been found.
Anirudh's associate is absconding, and a search operation is underway, the ASP said.