Bijnor (UP), Sep 22 (IANS): UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered the setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case of rape and murder of a national level Kho-Kho player.

This comes days after the police said that the national-level player's rape and murder case had been solved.

The victim's family alleged the 24-year-old athlete was raped and killed, while the police have said it was a case of 'murder and attempt to rape'.

The family of the Dalit woman, who was killed and brutalised on September 10 when she was on her way home from a job interview, met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, during an event in Bijnor on Tuesday to seek a re-investigation.

"The Chief Minister promised them protection and sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for the family of the deceased," said Moradabad DIG Shalabh Mathur.

"Following the demands of the woman's family, an SIT has been formed to investigate the case," he told reporters.

The police had earlier said it had solved the crime. A rope, a shirt with two missing buttons and a slipper had led them to a daily wage labourer who lived near the train tracks where the woman's body was found.

Bijnor SP Dharamveer Singh had said that, "Shahjad, 26, has confessed to his crime."

The police had then said that it was "attempt to rape" and the autopsy report had only found evidence of murder "and no other crime".

Based on the woman's father's complaint, the FIR still mentions rape charges along with those of murder, concealing evidence and offences punishable with life or other imprisonment.

But the woman's family said that when her body was found, her clothes had been pulled down.

Her father had said, "She was a sportsperson. She was strong. It is difficult to believe that one man, a supposed drug addict, overpowered her by himself. More men could have been present. Her phone is still missing."

The woman was on a call when she was attacked, her cries and screams were recorded by her friend on the other side.