Lucknow: A 40-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district allegedly hacked his 19-year-old daughter and her lover to death with a spade, and then walked over 13 kilometres with the murder weapon to surrender at a police station.
The disfigured bodies of Neetu and 20-year-old Jaypal were found at Parauli village in Badaun’s Bilsi area. Bilsi Circle Officer (CO) Sushil Singh told ThePrint that at around 4.30 am Tuesday, the accused, Mahesh, saw the two meeting secretly and attacked both in a fit of rage. He was allegedly opposed to their relationship as they were from different castes.
Speaking to media persons, Badaun Superintendent of Police (SP) O.P. Singh confirmed that Mahesh went to Bilsi police station to turn himself in, carrying the spade, and that he and his wife Bhagmati had been arrested. Bhagmati and other family members were allegedly seen mutilating the lifeless bodies of the victims.
He also said that both victims belonged to Scheduled Caste (SC) families. However, Jaypal’s father told ThePrint that they are OBCs (Other Backward Class).
The FIR was registered hours after the murders, on the basis of a complaint filed by Jaypal’s father, under IPC sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 34 (common intention). ThePrint has seen the FIR.
“The bodies have been sent for post-mortem,” the SP said.
According to the police, Neetu and Jaypal had been in a relationship for the past few years despite Neetu’s family objecting to the same, and remained in touch even after Jaypal moved to Haridwar for work.
“He (Mahesh) first attacked the youth and then attacked his daughter. Both were hacked to death. Soon after the incident, Mahesh started walking towards the police station with the spade in his hands and surrendered before police around 7 am,” Bhilsi CO Singh said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Jaypal’s father Surajpal said that Jaypal and Neetu had studied in the same school.
“Around two years back, we got to know that they were in a relationship and wanted to marry. However, the girl’s family was opposed to the match as they are Koris and we are Kareras. When the girl’s family objected to their relationship, we sent our son to Haridwar for work. However, the girl escaped from her house to meet him. We asked her family to get them married, but they refused. Another girl had similarly eloped from their family some years back, which was the main reason for the objection,” he added.
Jaypal was working in Haridwar as a labourer, and had come to visit his family on Sunday. “He was about to leave on Monday, but decided to stay back for a day and told us that he would return Tuesday. We don’t know if the duo had decided to meet or not,” said Surajpal.
Surajpal, who lives adjacent to Mahesh’s home, further said that he was woken by cries and shouts at around 4.30 am Tuesday and saw Mahesh, Bhagmati, Neetu’s paternal grandfather and two juvenile brothers attacking the couple’s bodies.
“I saw them lying lifeless but the family continued to attack their bodies to ensure that both were dead,” he said, adding that he saw Mahesh and his father Ramavtar disfiguring the bodies with a spade, while Mahesh’s wife Bhagmati and their elder son were using sticks.
“I didn’t go near them or else he could have killed us too,” he further said.
A police officer told ThePrint that the faces of Neetu and Jaypal had been reduced to lumps of skin and their bodies were unrecognisable.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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