Chhingchhip, Aug 31 : A manhunt was launched to arrest an 18-year-old youth suspected to have murdered and possibly raped two sisters — aged three and six — in the Mizoram village of Chhingchhip, said a police officer on Saturday.
The bloodied bodies of the two girls were found around 8 pm on Friday near their tin-roofed home in the village, about 80 km from state capital Aizawl.
J Lalnunmawia, a member of the village council, said near the younger girl’s body villagers found a bag that had the elder sister’s school books, clothes and a blood-stained white t-shirt.
“We took the t-shirt to a few young men in the village and they all said it belonged to Lalchhuantluanga,” he added.
According to him, Lalchhuantluanga is known to be a drug-user — mostly he sniffed glue — and has been caught stealing money several times before. He said some villagers also saw him around the time they were searching for the girls. Later, he disappeared with both villagers and police now searching for him as the prime suspect.
On Friday, the victim’s parents were at their farm near the Tuikum river and the sisters were supposed to visit their maternal uncle’s home nearby, where they never showed up. The 17-year-old sister of the victims was supposed to accompany them there. But instead she had gone to the farm to collect some fresh vegetables, said the girls’ 45-year-old father.
The neighbours said they had last seen the duo playing with their friends in a field around 10 am on Friday.