Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday visited the residence of the two girls found hanging from a tree on Friday near their village under Kokrajhar police station and directed the police to “expeditiously” unearth the truth behind the “shocking deaths”.

Sarma said one of the reasons for visiting the family at Abhayakuti village was to send a message to the masses that his government will not tolerate any kind of atrocity against the poor and ensuring the safety of women shall always remain a top priority of his government.

“... I met them today to console & share their pain. Assam Govt stands firmly by them,” Sarma later tweeted.

Soon after taking charge as the chief minister on May 10, Sarma had said that safety and security of the indigenous communities and women would be a priority areas of his government.

After meeting the affected family-members, locals, police and the Bodoland Territorial Council chief Pramod Boro at Abhayakuti, Sarma said prima facie it could be a case of murder or suicide under duress.

“Whatever the cause, I have instructed the police to expeditiously unearth the truth. If it is a murder, we need to find the culprits. And if it is suicide, we need to find out the reasons. The family sees no reason for them to die by suicide. There is a mystery which needs to be resolved solved,” he said.

Police have so far arrested five persons, between 20 and 27 years, from nearby areas in connection with the case, Kokrajhar SP Prateek Thube told The Telegraph.

“Few more people are under the scanner. We are awaiting the post mortem to know the exact cause of death,” he said.

The chief minister has said two of those held in connection with the case had deleted all their messages and photos from their mobile phones.

The girls, aged 16 and 14, hailing from the Rabha community were school-dropouts.

The Rabha Joutha Mancha had supported the ruling BJP-led alliance in the recently-held Assembly election.

The girls were missing since Friday afternoon and their bodies were founding hanging from a mango tree about 600 metres away from their residence late evening.

“Their bodies were found to be hanging 10 feet above the ground,” a police source said.

Their family members were working in the paddy field and discovered the duo missing when they returned home around 4pm.

“It is a very remote village, about 20km from Kokrajhar town. There are around 60 houses, mostly scattered in the village. The family is poor. The deceased were related — were aunt and niece,” a source who visited the village on Sunday said.

The nearest Salbari and Singimari villages are located about 1 and 2 km away respectively.