When Rajendra Sharma, a teacher, married Puja (name changed) after a brief affair and against the wishes of her parents, little did he imagine that it would prove fatal for him after over two decades.
A resident of UP’s Unnao district, about 60 km from Lucknow, Sharma was hacked to death allegedly by his brother-in-law on Friday for the sake of family honour — a little over 22 years since his love marriage.
According to reports, Sharma had married Puja, who also hailed from the same village, after a brief affair in 1991. Puja’s parents were against their marriage.
Anil Mishra, the alleged culprit, was barely 10 years old then.
Futile escape
In a bid to avoid the wrath of Puja’s parents, the couple shifted to Lucknow, where Sharma opened a school. The couple then had two children.
Sharma thought the anger of Puja’s parents must have subsided after so many years of his marriage, but he had no inkling of the fact that Anil was still seething with rage and had vowed to punish him for humiliating the family.
On Tuesday, Sharma came to Unnao to attend a function at his maternal uncle’s house at Sidhoor village, a few kilometers away from Anil’s village.
Police said Anil, who had information about Sharma’s presence there, intercepted the victim while he was speaking to someone near the village on Friday. Anil, who carried an axe, hit Sharma several times, killing him on the spot.
Anil then returned home and fled from the village with his family.
Senior police officials, who reached the spot after getting information of the incident, said it was a case of honour killing.
A case has been registered and a hunt has been launched to nab the culprit.
