Unnao, Uttar Pradesh:

The water given to the three Unnao girls was laced with a herbicide named Sulfosulfuron, leading to the death of two of them, Uttar Pradesh Police said on Thursday.

“The Forensic Science laboratory (FSL) report revealed that a herbicide named Sulfosulfuron was mixed in the water given to the three girls, after consuming which two of them died and the third was admitted to the hospital in critical condition,” said Anand Kulkarni, senior police official, Unnao.

Mr Kulkarni added that police have applied for remand of the two accused arrested in the case.

On February 19, UP police arrested two persons, including a minor, in connection with the case where three girls were found unconscious in an agricultural field in Unnao’s Asoha, out of which two have died and the third girl is battling for her life in a Kanpur hospital.

Uttar Pradesh Police had said that one of the arrested identified as Vinay alias Lambu in his confession said that he had fallen in love with one of the girls and offered her water laced with pesticides after she rejected his advances.

“We got a tip-off on Friday morning by an informant from the village that two persons were seen running away from the agricultural field around the time of the incident. On the basis of that information, we have arrested both of them. Vinay confessed he offered ”namkeen” to the girl when she came to the field. When she asked for water, he handed her a bottle of water that was laced with pesticides,” police had said.

“The other two girls also drank from the same water bottle that had pesticides mixed in it. Vinay said he tried to stop the other two from drinking the water but could not do so. When the girls fainted and started frothing from their mouths, he panicked and fled the spot along with his companion,” the police had added.

The three girls, all related to each other, were found lying by villagers in a field in Asoha on February 17 when they did not return after they left home to collect fodder for the cattle.