Two teenage girls of the Tripura ethnic community were found hanged by the neck in Jangal Mahadevpur village in Sitakunda upazila on Friday night.
The victims were identified as Sukhlati Tripura, 15, daughter of Falin Tripura and Chhobi Rani Tripura, 12, daughter of Sumon Tripura of the village.
Around Saturday afternoon, police arrested one Abul Hossain, 25, also from the village, after conducting a drive at Sitakunda Sadar area.
Police recovered the bodies from a house in the village around 8pm Friday and sent them to Chittagong Medical College Hospital for autopsy, said Mozammel Haq, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Sitakunda Police Station.
Suman Tripura, father of Rani Tripura lodged a murder case with the station on Saturday morning accusing Abul Hossain and three unnamed people.
Falin, father of Sukhlati, alleged that Abul Hossain had been harassing his daughter. Abul and his associates raped and killed the girls because his daughter refused his advances, he said.
“They poured poison in their mouths and then hanged the bodies to make it look like suicide,” he told the UNB.
Sub Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman of Sitakunda Police Station, who is the investigating officer on the case, said that Abul confessed that he along with his two aides killed the girls.
The police will produce Abul Hossain before the court later in the day, seeking remand.
