Locked houses, a dozen detentions after Nuh woman burnt to death

Police said they have detained a dozen of suspects and were quizzing them to trace suspects who were on the run.

At least 50 families have locked their houses and fled with valuables in Laharwadi village of Nuh’s Punhana fearing crackdown after a mob had allegedly burned a 24-year-old woman to death in the area on Friday evening over an old enmity between two families, police said on Sunday.

Locked houses, a dozen detentions after Nuh woman burnt to death

Police said they have detained a dozen of suspects and were quizzing them to trace suspects who were on the run.

A group of people on Friday evening poured an inflammable liquid on Shehnaz Khatoon and set her on fire after attacking other members of her family. Khatoon died of burn injuries on spot while police are carrying out raids in Nuh villages and areas across Rajasthan border to nab the suspects.

Inspector Jangsheer, station house officer at the Punhana police station, said that the village wears a deserted look as at least 50-51 houses are locked.

The attack on Friday was a fall out of a seven-month-old dispute when Khatoon’s brother Mohammad Rizwan was murdered and the accused were arrested while their family members left the village. The accused, on December 7, got bail so the family also came back to the village. “Rizwan’s family had opposed their return. This resulted in tension between both sides which ultimately caused a scuffle on Friday and the woman was murdered,” Vijay Partap, Nuh superintendent of police, said, adding that they have booked 43 people in the case, looking at videos of the incident which were recorded by other villagers.

The deceased woman’s father, Muhammad Yakub Bakhsh, also the complainant in the case, also named some people in his complaint. “Most of these houses are of the suspects who had been named in the FIR of the deceased woman’s father. The suspects fled with the family members and valuables within a few hours of the incident. There are 43 named suspects and at least seven to eight unidentified persons in the FIR,” the SHO said.