AKIPRESS.COM - At least three men, including one police officer, have been arrested after two teenage girls were gang raped and hanged from a tree in India.

Authorities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh said they were looking for one more suspect and one constable, BBC reports.

The victims' family earlier complained that police had refused to help find the missing girls, aged 14 and 16.

Large crowds of villagers gathered in protest at the scene of the crime, as Joanna Jolly reports.

A constable was also detained for conspiring with the suspects and for dereliction of duty, authorities added.

Earlier on Thursday, officials had confirmed that three policemen had been removed from duty for not registering cases when the girls were reported missing on Tuesday night.

The bodies of the teenagers were found in Katra Shahadatganj village in Badaun district on Wednesday morning.

A post-mortem examination confirmed rape and death due to hanging, police said.

Hundreds of villagers held a silent demonstration at the scene of the crime in protest at the police's perceived inaction.