In a suspected case of 'honour killing', the couple were stoned to death by the relatives of the woman who had eloped with a married man from a so-called lower caste.
In a suspected case of 'honour killing', a couple was stoned to death by the relatives of an upper caste girl who had eloped with a married man from another caste at a village in Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad district, police said today.
"The girl's relatives attacked the couple, S Srinivas and Swapna, when they were sleeping outside their house in Krishna Jiwadi village at around 10.30 last night. The couple was dragged on to the road and hit with boulders resulting in their death," Nizamabad superintendent of police K Venkateshwara Rao told the Press Trust of India on telephone.
Giving details, the police officer said the woman Swapna (aged around 22 years) went missing from the village last year, after which her father lodged a missing complaint. Swapna, however, returned home after a month and a half and the complaint was withdrawn.
But she went missing once again after staying in the village for about a month and returned only a week ago along with Srinivas, with whom she had lived for the past nine months, the officer said.
Srinivas, who belongs to a scheduled caste, was already married and had two children. Swapna's family members and relatives suspected that she was in love with Srinivas and had eloped with him.
"They [the relatives] were reportedly angered by the woman having a relationship with a married man, that too one belonging to another caste," Rao said.
"It is still not clear whether Swapna and Srinivas had married and where they were staying for the past nine months and for how long they had been having an affair," the superintendent of police said.
"But since their return to the village a week ago, the duo was staying together in the village along with the wife and children of Srinivas," Rao said.
"We are still investigating as the [killing] was reported late last night. We have taken into custody one person and more arrests will be made soon," Rao said.
A case of double murder has been registered. An autopsy was conducted on the corpses of Srinivas and Swapna at a hospital in Kamareddy town, the officer said.
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