In an apparent incident of honour killing, a 24-year-old woman was killed by her family members at Kanjhawala in outer Delhi due to her desire to marry a youth belonging to another caste.
Deepti Chhikara, a Municipal Corporation of Delhi school teacher in Sultanpuri, was married, but had returned to her maternal house at Jonti village a month after marriage.
“It has also come to light that Deepti was in continuous touch with an engineer who was of a different caste and whom she wanted to marry.
In the third week of April, Deepti went missing, but her family members did not approach police,” a police official said.
The matter came to light when Deepti’s boyfriend wrote an e-mail to a senior Delhi Police police official, following which an investigation was taken up in May.
During initial investigation, it was found that her family feared of backlash from society if she re-married a man from different caste.
Her mother Veermati and brother Mohit usedto have heated arguments over her refusal to offers of marriage brought by the family.
Veermati and Mohit were apprehended for questioning after a case of kidnapping was lodged on June 19.
Initially, they kept on denying any involvement in Deepti’s disappearance, but on sustained interrogation, they broke down and confessed to have killed her on April 19.
Mohit disclosed that he strangulated Deepti and then took the body to Roorkee in his car.
“He claims that he dumped the body in a canal in Roorkee. Veermati and Mohit were arrested over the confession on Thursday. We will take them to Roorkee to try and recover the body,” the official added.
They have also claimed that Deepti’s uncle was also involved in the incident. He is absconding and efforts are on to apprehend him.
A case of murder, removing evidence and hatching criminal conspiracy under sections 302, 201 and 120-B has been lodged against them.