Two men strangle housemate for refusing to fill water bucket during 'his turn'

The accused, one of them a juvenile, tried to evade arrest by making it look like a suicide. They were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi.

A man was allegedly strangled by two of his housemates after a fight over "his turn" to fill a bucket of water, police said on Thursday.

It was not clear whether she was attacked by someone she knew or was the victim of a violent robbery, an officer aware of the case said, adding that her broken mobile phone was found at the scene of the crime. (Representational image)

The accused, one of them a juvenile, tried to evade arrest by making it look like a suicide, they said. They were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi.

"On January 11, a PCR call was received at Nihal Vihar police station about a suicide case in a rented house. Our team reached the spot and found a dead body lying on the bed in a room at the first floor," Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Jimmy Chiram said.

The officer further said that initially the matter seemed to be suicide case as per the caller's version.

Police ruled out hanging as the ceiling was very high and there was no way to reach it. "Our staff suspected the matter may not be a suicide case. An inspection of the body was conducted. The team also discussed the matter with doctors who conducted autopsy," the DCP said.

"Doctors told the team that there was some ligature marks present on the neck of the deceased who was identified as Rachit, a labourer by profession. He was strangulated to death," Chiram said.

Police said that an FIR under sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), and 34 (common intentions) of the IPC was registered on January 16.

"We got to know that the victim was residing with two other people in a rented house. When we inquired about them, the staff found their mobile phones off.

The team located them in Hardoi of Uttar Pradesh and a raid was conducted there, the officer said.

A juvenile was apprehended and another accused identified as Abhay Kant Mishra (27) was arrested," he added.

During interrogation, the accused told police that they had a verbal spat with the victim after the latter refused to bring a bucket of water during "his turn".

"They were drunk. They strangulated him to death using a rope and fled from the spot," the DCP said.

A rope and a knife was recovered from the accused's possession, he added.