Superintendent of Police (SP), Sitapur, V K Dohrey said the incident took place at Kesariganj village. A group of six armed persons raided the house of one Ram Bahadur around 5.30 pm, overpowered him and assaulted his sons, Vinod and Lalla. The trio were then shot with countrymade firearms and they died on the spot, added the SP.

Dohrey said the murder was a fallout of a rape which occurred on January 2. Bahadur’s son Pramod was the accused in the case.

Pramod was employed at the house of one of the assailants in the same village. He had allegedly taken the five-year-old daughter of his employer outside the village and raped her. He is even said to have attempted to strangulate the girl, following which he returned home, leaving her in an unconscious state.

The SP said her relatives found her in the fields the following morning. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors confirmed it to be a case of rape. The condition of the girl is said to be stable now.