The two girls whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in lower Assam’s Kokrajhar on Friday evening were raped and subsequently murdered by persons “known” to them.

Police have arrested seven persons in this connection, including the three who were directly involved in the crime which the accused tried to pass of as a suicide case.

That it was a case of rape and murder was first shared by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma followed by a press meet by the Kokrajhar police around 6 pm on Tuesday.

“The accused were known to the victims. Three of the directly accused are from the same Salbari village. They are age 19, 20 and 22,” a police official told The Telegraph.

Sarma tweeted with “extreme sense of satisfaction” that senior police officer, L.R. Bishnoi, IGP, BTR, had called to inform him that the “rape and murder” of the two minor tribal girls “have been solved”. Soon after, there were demand from the family members and locals to hand them death sentence just as they had taken the lives of the two victims.

The breakthrough came two days after Sarma’s stock-taking visit to the residence of the victims in Abhayakuti village, about 20 km from Kokrajhar town, and directed the police to “expeditiously” unearth the truth behind the “shocking deaths”.

The victims, aged 16 and 14, hailed from the same family and were school-dropouts. Their family members were working in a paddy field and discovered the duo missing when they returned home around 4pm on Friday.

Their bodies were found hanging 10 feet above the ground from a mango tree located about 600metres away from their residence on Friday late evening.

There are around 60 houses, mostly scattered in the remote village, with a population of about 260, mostly depending on agriculture. Salbari and Singimari villages are located about 1 and 2 km away respectively.

Sarma also said one of the reasons for visiting the victims’ family was to send a message that his government will not tolerate “any kind of atrocity” against the poor and will continue to accord top priority to safety of women in the state, something he had assured soon after taking charge as the chief minister on May 10.

Welcoming the swift breakthrough, BTR Koch Student Union president Rasam D Koch told this newspaper that the accused should be tried in a fast-track court and those involved in the crime should be handed exemplary punishment, including the death sentence. He also said there are reports of girls from the areas being regularly harassed but this is the first time they have been murdered.

“ The government should also expedite development activities in the area.”