Two 13-year-old twin brothers were found murdered on Tuesday morning, October 20, in Badesra village of Deeg district in Rajasthan, in a case that has shocked the area. The boys had left home early that morning and did not return; after their maternal aunt raised the alarm, a search was launched and their bodies were found at around 6 am in a plot near their house, the Times of India reported.

Deeg Superintendent of Police Kambale Sharan Gopinath said the twins' throats had been slit and that both bodies bore head injuries and multiple cut marks, according to the reports. Police moved quickly and took three people into custody within hours.

Police allege that the boys' widowed mother, Preeti, conspired with a man from the same village, with whom she was in a relationship, to kill the twins because they had opposed the relationship. Investigators allege that she called the man to the house and that he and her 16-year-old elder son carried out the killings at her behest. All three — the mother, the alleged partner and the elder son — have been taken into custody and are being questioned. These are police allegations reported by investigators; they have not been proven, and the investigation is continuing.

According to police, the mother had married a man from Saroth Mansa village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district about 20 years ago and the couple had four children — an 18-year-old daughter, the 16-year-old son and the 13-year-old twins. After her husband's death several years ago, she moved with her children to her parental home in Badesra, where the family had been living. Police said they are investigating the circumstances leading up to the killings and the alleged roles of each of the three people in custody. The victims, being minors, are not being named.