Unnao (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 18 (IANS): Tied with 'dupatta', three minor girls were found in an unconscious state in Unnao's Baburaha village. Two of them were declared brought dead at the district hospital while the third was referred to a private hospital in Kanpur in a critical condition.

The girls, aged 13, 16 and 17, were found in their field on Wednesday night.

According to the police, the three girls had gone to their fields to cut grass on Wednesday afternoon. When they did not return till late evening, their family members went out to search for them and found them lying unconscious in the field.

The hands and feet of the girls were tied with their dupatta and they were frothing at the mouth, indicating that they had been given poison.

Their clothes, however, were intact.

The brother of the 16-year-old girl, in his statement to the police, said "I spotted my sister along with my two other cousins with their hands and legs tied."

Superintendent of Police, Unnao, Anand Kulkarni, told reporters that the three girls are cousins. "A white substance was oozing out of their mouths, and was visible, when the police teams reached there," he said.

The two bodies have been sent for post mortem.

Family members have alleged murder. "Why would the girls tie their own hands and feet if they were committing suicide? It is a clear case of murder," said a family member.

Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Singh Sajan, meanwhile, alleged that the Unnao police was trying to hush up the case. He has sought a probe by an independent agency in the matter.

"The incident proves that our daughters are not safe in this regime. Unnao, in the past three years, has witnessed a spate of similar incidents which is a matter of concern," he said.