Ashrin Sulthana, wife of a Dalit man who was brutally murdered by her relatives in Hyderabad, who are Muslims, said she had begged her brother, who is the main accused in the case, to spare her husband.
The victim, B. Nagaraju, was killed in full public view by his wife's brother Syed Mobin Ahmed, and another accused, Mohammed Masood Ahmed, in a case of suspected honour killing.
"My brother was against my marriage. My husband told my brother earlier that he will become Muslim and marry me. But my brother did not approve. Even before marriage, my brother had beaten me because I wanted to marry him."
The police, who arrested the duo confirmed that Syed Mobin Ahmed was against his sister's marriage and had warned her against it.
Narrating the incident on Friday, Sulthana said she and her husband were heading home when the two accused came on a motorbike and started beating Nagaraju. She said initially, she did not understand it was her brother who was attacking her husband.
"They kept on beating him on his head, he was bleeding a lot. I sought help from people around me, but nobody came forward to help. I saw the face of my brother. I begged him to stop beating my husband, but he did not listen to me. Nagaraju was wearing his helmet. But due to the assault, it was damaged and so was his head," news agency ANI quoted her as saying.
She said the passers-by refused to help them. "If they wanted, they could have helped, but nobody did."
In an interview to a news channel, she also said her brother had also tried to kill her. “My mother had warned us that my brother would kill us if we got married,” she was quoted as saying.
Sulthana and Nagaraju were classmates in school and college and were in love for more than five years. They got married in January this year against the wishes of her family members.
Meanwhile, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, on Friday, sought a "detailed report" from the state government on the murder.
According to a Raj Bhavan press communique, "Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan having gone through various media reports on the gruesome murder of B Nagaraju on 04-05-2022 night at Saroornagar in GHMC area, alleged to have been killed due to his interfaith marriage", sought a detailed report on the murder from the government.
—With PTI inputs
