Hathras rape accused claims victim killed by her brother, victim's family terms it 'conspiracy'

Giving a twist to the alleged 'gang-rape' and killing of an SC teen in Hathras, the main accused wrote a letter to the district police chief claiming that the victim was a friend of his and was killed by her brother as the latter did not approve of their relationship.

In the letter, which went viral on social media, the main accused, Sandeep, said that the victim had called him to meet her in the fields. ''I, however, returned home after the victim told me that her brother and mother were also there with her,'' Sandeep claimed.

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He said that he later came to know that the victim had been ''brutally beaten'' by her brother. Sandeep sought an impartial inquiry into the matter.

The victim's family members, however, termed Sandeep's claims as 'lies' and said that none of them knew any of the four accused, including Sandeep.

''Neither Sandeep nor any other accused persons ever visited us...he is lying...Sandeep is also the name of one of her brothers..it is a conspiracy to get them released from jail,'' said one of the family members of the victim on Thursday.

''Our daughter was cremated in the dead of night...kill us too...give us some poison so that we also die,'' said another member of the family.

According to the sources here, the victim's family has filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court claiming that they had been 'confined' to their house by the security personnel and were not being allowed to either go out or speak to anyone.

The SC teen had been brutally assaulted by four youths and died in the hospital. The family members alleged that she was gang-raped. The police allegedly held her family hostage and cremated the body at midnight. . All the four accused have been arrested

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The police claimed that the postmortem report and forensic examination of the Hathras victim did not confirm ''rape or gang-rape' and that she had died owing to injury on her neck.

As the incident triggered nationwide outrage, the state government was reported to be part of an ''international conspiracy'' aimed at instigating sectarian violence in the state and tarnishing the image of the state. As many as 19 cases, including those of sedition and promoting enmity between different groups, have been lodged in this regard.