The Prayagraj Police arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the murder of four members of a family in the district, said police on Sunday.
The arrest happened days after the four members of the family from the Dalit community were found dead in their houses on November 25.
Prem Prakash, Additional Director General (ADG), Prayagraj, said, "The man has been identified as Pawan Saroj. His clothes, blood samples are being sent for DNA testing and his accomplices are being traced. The man has been arrested for not cooperating in the investigation. One of the deceased is a girl whose Date of Birth is June 1996, so we have removed POCSO Act from the case."
The ADG said, "We have found messages that he sent to the girl from the accused's mobile phone. The messages were deleted from the girl's mobile phone. Pawan used to work in the brick-kiln factory and used to stalk the girl. The accused is from the same caste as that of the girl. However, if the other accomplices are found to be from general caste, then we will keep the SC/ST Act in the case."
He further said, "During the autopsy, pubic hair was found on the girl's body, which means that she was gang-raped. We have registered a case under Section 376 and 302. Further investigation is underway."
( With inputs from ANI )
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