Lucknow: The father of one of the two cousins, who had died by suicide, allegedly after being repeatedly gang-raped in Uttar Praesh's Kanpur Dehat district last week, was also found dead near his home in the neighbouring Hamirpur district.
According to sources, the family was under pressure to make a 'compromise' in the matter and 'withdraw' the case against the three accused, who were contractors at a brick kiln at Ghatampur area in Kanpur Dehat district.
Police sources said that the man's body was found hanging by a tree in a field a few hundred metres away from his residence in Hamirpur district. The families of the cousins had returned to their native district after the incident.
Police officials claimed that the families of the cousins had not made any complaint about any kind of pressure being exerted on them by the family of the accused.
''We will investigate the matter thoroughly to ascertain if there was any attempt to pressurise the victims' families to compromise and withdraw their complaints,'' said a senior police official.
The minor victims, both cousins, lived with their parents, who worked at the brick kiln as laborers. The contractor's son and nephew had allegedly forced the cousins to drink liquor and later gang-raped them. They had allegedly also made videos and later used the same to blackmail the cousins.
Allegedly feeling humiliated, the cousins had hanged themselves from a tree near the brick kiln a week back. The police arrested the duo and recovered the videos of the victims from their cell phones. The contractor, identified as Ramswaroop, was also arrested.
The incident triggered a sharp reaction from opposition leaders, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slamming the state government over what she alleged were rising crimes against women.
''It has become a rule of sorts in the state to destroy the families if the victims seek justice...it has become a crime to be a woman in the state where jungle raj prevails,'' Priyanka said in a post on X.