A 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were allegedly killed by her family, who later tried to stage the murders as suicide, in a suspected case of hate crime in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district on New Year’s Eve, police said on Monday.
The woman’s father, mother and uncle have been arrested and a detailed investigation is underway, the police added.
The victims were identified as Mithun Kushwaha and Kamini Sahu.
The incident took place in Bigha village in Jakhaura area, under Lalitpur police station.
According to Lalitpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Muhammad Mushtaq, Sahu’s family did not approve of her relationship with Kushwaha. Both Sahu and Kushwaha’s families did not want the two to be together.
A panchayat was earlier held, where Kushwaha was directed to stay away from the village till Sahu got married. While Kushwaha began living with his uncle outside the village, he would discreetly visit Sahu at her house late at night, Mr Mushtaq said.
Sahu’s family was aware of Kushwaha’s frequent visits and knew he would turn up at their house on the midnight of January 1, to celebrate his partner’s birthday.
As Kushwaha visited Sahu at midnight on New Year, the latter’s family caught him and tied his hands. They forced him to drink poison and then strangled him, Mr Mushtaq said.
After Sahu protested and threatened to report the murder to the police, her family forced her to drink poison and strangled her.
In a bid to mislead the police, the woman’s family hung the man’s body from a tree, to portray it as a suicide. They dumped the woman’s body behind their house, the SP said.
On the morning of January 1, the officer added, the woman’s family pretended that she went missing and began a search for her, along with the villagers. Chaos erupted after the villagers spotted the two bodies.
Police said they initially suspected it to be a case of suicide and sent the bodies for a post-mortem.
“The post mortem reports, however, revealed that they were strangled to death. The woman’s family tried to stage the murders as suicides. Three people have been arrested. They are the woman’s father Sunil Sahu, her mother Ramdevi Sahu and her uncle Deshraj Sahu,” the SP said.
(With inputs from Brajesh Panth)
