Two Uttar Pradesh Police constables were suspended for failing to fulfill their duties in connection with the murder case of a Dalit woman and her five-year-old nephew in Muzaffarnagar, PTI reported on Wednesday. The police department took action against constables Tejbir Singh and Jitender Kumar on Tuesday, said Senior Superintendent of Police Anant Dev.

The bodies of the two victims were found on December 20 in sugarcane fields in Luhari Khurd village in Muzaffarnagar. Locals staged a protest after finding their bodies and initially had refused to hand over the bodies to the police, PTI reported.

Three men had allegedly raped the woman in the fields while the boy was killed with a sickle, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. The police have arrested all three accused and found a sharp-aged weapon that they believe was used in the crime.

“One of the men, Sharafat, was picked up and he admitted to killing them,” Superintendent of Police (Muzaffarnagar) Omvir Singh told The Indian Express. “He named the other two men, who were absent from the village. They were arrested on Monday after an exchange of fire during which the accused received injuries and a constable too suffered a bullet injury in the leg.”