Faridabad: Missing woman was killed in sleep by father-in-law over family feud

Police said that Tannu Rajput’s father-in-law may have also had other reasons for killing her which he has not yet disclosed

The 25-year-old woman whose body was found buried in a soak-pit in front of her in-laws’ house in Faridabad’s Roshan Nagar on Friday, was strangled to death by her father-in-law while she was asleep on April 21, police said on Saturday. Bhoop Singh, 54, was arrested late on Friday, produced before a city court on Saturday, and taken on a two-day police custody.

Tannu Rajput was killed two months ago and buried in a pit outside her in-laws’ house, who then told everyone that she had eloped. (HT Photo)

During interrogation, Singh told police that family feud was the primary reason behind the murder and he entered Tannu Rajput’s room on the night of April 21 when she had fallen asleep. He strangled her to death with her scarf. The deceased’s husband Arun Singh, 28, registered a missing person’s case at Palla police station on April 24.

It is yet not clear if the husband or the other in-laws knew about the crime or were involved. “We suspect that there might be some other factor too which he is trying to hide,” assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Rajesh Lohan said, adding that Singh, his daughter, and Rajput were present in the house at the time of the crime.

Singh runs a tailor shop inside the four-storey house and kept misguiding the police during interrogation in the past months as whenever called, he would reach the Palla police station for “help and cooperation” to trace her “missing” daughter-in-law, the ACP said.

“Arun Singh, a private firm employee, was on night duty like other days while his mother was out of town to attend a wedding. The deceased’s sister-in-law had gone to sleep on the ground floor while she was sleeping in her bedroom on the first-floor,” Lohan added.

After the murder, Singh said he dragged Rajput’s body downstairs and dumped it into the soak-pit dug right in front of the entrance and covered it with sand late in the night. Next morning, he filled it further with bricks and roped in a mason to get it cemented.

He later told the family members that she had probably eloped as the main gate was open when he woke up on April 22. Police said the pit was dug for sewer connection a couple of days before the murder.

After some days, Rajput’s family approached Faridabad police and urged them to quiz the father-in-law for clues to know her whereabouts as they suspected foul play. On Friday, police again called the suspect for questioning, when he finally told them about the incident.

Police said Rajput’s husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law may also be arrested if their involvement surfaces after further investigation.

The missing person’s case has been transformed into a murder case by invoking sections 103(1) (murder), 3(5) (common intention) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Rajput’s husband and other members of the Singh family, police said.