The bodies of a girl and a youth were found lying in a pool of blood near Shiva temple in Mitauli area of Lakhimpur Kheri, police said on Tuesday.
The girl’s face was so damaged that it was difficult to identify her. The youth also had deep head injuries. A pistol was found lying beside the youth’s body while two cartridges were also recovered from his pocket. The family members of both the deceased alleged that it was a case of honour killing. However, the police claimed that the youth appeared to have committed suicide after shooting the girl.
CO Shamsher Bahadur, who visited the spot, recovered a mobile phone, bike keys and two cartridges from the pocket of the youth, who was identified as Kallu Amoti on the basis of his Aadhaar card. He was a resident of Ravendra.
The girl was identified as Uma Bharti alias Anshu (21), who was a resident of Muradpur police station in Maigalganj.
SP Ganesh Prasad Saha said prima facie the youth shot himself after killing the girl. However, he added that further probe was underway.
Meanwhile in Mathura, where a youth’s charred body was recovered from a car, the deceased was identified as Pushpendra Yadav, a transporter from Kasganj.
He was allegedly killed for  ‘honour’ by his lover’s father, said to be a history-sheeter.
According to reports, Pushpendra Yadav had a love affair with the daughter of a history-sheeter of Sikandra police station. The family members of the deceased suspected he was murdered.
When the police raided the history-sheeter’s house in Sikandra, the family members were found absconding. The car in which police found Pushpendra’s charred body on Monday belongs to his friend Ajay Tomar of Madan Mohan Darwaja, Agra.
Police said that Pushpendra had lured the girl into eloping with him on September 13, 2023. However, the girl came back and filed a case with Sikandra police, alleging that Pushpendra had made her drink intoxicants and when she turned unconscious, he took her to a hill station.
“When I regained consciousness, he pressurised me for marriage,” she stated in her complaint.
She said when she was freed, she left for Aligarh on September 22 and went to her aunt’s house.
Inspector, Sikandra, Neeraj Kumar Sharma said that the statement of the girl was recorded in the court. She gave statements in favour of the accused, therefore, the charge-sheet could not be filed.
The accused had also secured a stay on his arrest from the court. The girl’s father is a history-sheeter and was out of jail on parole.