Scene of crime made police suspicious of family in Ghaziabad teenager’s murder

The girl’s brother and her parents were arrested by the police on Friday for their alleged role in the ‘honour killing’ as they were opposed to her relationship with a 19-year-old man from a different caste.

The family of a 15-year-old girl whose body was found in sugarcane fields on January 1 had allegedly planned the murder meticulously but the police found the scene of the crime suspicious during the investigation.

A local points to the spot where the body was found. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The girl’s brother and her parents were arrested by the police on Friday for their alleged role in the ‘honour killing’ as they were opposed to her relationship with a 19-year-old man from a different caste.

The girl was allegedly strangled by three accused inside their house on January 1.

The family carried the body in a bag and dumped it in the sugarcane fields located 250 yards from the house.

The incident took place in Farid Nagar under Bhojpur police station area of Ghaziabad.

“Her body was found on one of the fields located near a non-metalled pathway. However, her slippers were kept properly, side by side, on a field on the other side of the pathway. This was confusing. Apart from her slippers, a metal pan that was used for fetching fodder was also found nearby,” AK Maurya, superintendent of police (rural), said.

After dumping the body in the fields, the family had allegedly removed some of the girl’s clothes to make it look like a case of rape. However, there was no sign of sexual assault, according to the post-mortem examination report, police said.

After the three arrests on Friday, the girl’s mother and father, denied their involvement and their son tried to shoulder the blame.

“I used to hear about her relationship whenever I went out. For the past two years, her acts brought a bad name to us and finally, I decided to get rid of her. We also persuaded her to get married to someone else but she was adamant (of marrying the person from the other caste),” the girl’s brother, said.

The girl was the youngest of eight siblings. The man who has been named an accused is 19 years old. He is the third of the eight and the oldest boy.

“Two of my daughters are already married. My daughter’s act brought a bad name to us and villagers often spoke ill of us. This would have affected the marriage prospects of my other daughters. She had studied up to class 5,” the girl’s mother said.

The police also recovered the rope used to strangle the girl, the stick used for inflicting injury marks on the body and the plastic bag in which the body was carried and dumped in the fields.