The discovery of the headless body of a 16-year-old girl is believed to be a case of honour killing by the police in Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh.
Late on Tuesday night, based on a tip-off that a sack emitting a foul smell was spotted next to a drain in Sohali village, the police arrived at the spot to investigate.
S. Anand, the Superintendent of Police, said, “We were informed that a portion of the body was visible from the ditch in which it was buried. We immediately reached the spot to investigate. A mutilated body with its head missing was recovered.”
The family’s involvement was suspected as the girl was missing since September 23, but no police complaint had been made.
“Upon questioning the girl’s father, Gajodhar Lal, he confessed that he had killed his daughter. We have also recovered the axe and the mallet used to commit the crime,” Anand said.
Though initial inquiries had revealed that the girl was pregnant and her family was livid over it, the police said it was still investigating the reason behind the killing, which would be established after a postmortem. The girl’s father has also named his son, Ram Niwas, as his accomplice. The police is also attempting to identify the person responsible for impregnating the minor girl.
Gajodhar’s cousin, Sewa Ram, said, “The girl disappeared one night and the family claimed that she had run away. The women of the village had guessed that she was three-to-four-months pregnant. When the family questioned her about it, she refused to answer. The father was furious.”
Sewa Ram added that he had also been taken in by the police for questioning, but he had no knowledge of the incident as his home was at some distance from that of the victim.
