The police on Monday filed a First Information report against two brothers for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district on Sunday evening. Although the family alleged that the duo set her on fire after raping her, the police said prima facie, it appeared that she had committed suicide after the sexual assault, the Hindustan Times reported.

The accused – identified as Sonu and Sunil – allegedly assaulted the girl when she was alone at home in Hamirpur’s Majhgawan region. They also attacked her younger brother after he walked in on them standing by the girl’s charred body, but he managed to escape, the report said.

Her brother said he had returned home around 6 pm and had to jump over a wall to enter after he found the door locked. “I smelled a strong odour of charred flesh and saw the two men standing near the body,” he claimed. “A bottle of kerosene was lying there. When I raised an alarm, the two men charged at me with sticks and axe. I managed to escape.”

Hamirpur Additional Superintendent of Police Sahab Lal Yadav said they had filed an FIR on the basis of the complaint filed by the girl’s father. “We are questioning some people about the whereabouts of the accused,” he said, adding that they had sent the girl’s body for an autopsy.

In his complaint, the 17-year-old’s father also claimed that the two accused also stole cash and jewellery from the house, which he said he had kept for his daughter’s wedding in April.