Woman, lover publicly lynched to death in UP

In a shocking incident, a woman and her lover were lynched to death allegedly by the family members of the woman in full public view in Uttar Pradesh's Agra town, about 350 kilometres from here, on Friday.

According to the police sources here, the woman, identified as Pooja Devi, and her lover Shivam Sisodia, a resident of Achnera locality in the town, were brutally assaulted by Pooja's husband and her father-in-law, when they caught the duo together, and later slit their throats.

Sources said that Pooja and Shival tried to escape but they were chased by the accused persons and were hacked to death in the lane a little distance away from their house as the residents watched in horror.

Pooja's husband Gaurav Kumar and her father-in-law later surrendered before the cops at the local police station and apprised them of the killings. Gaurav's younger brother was also arrested in this connection, the police said.

Gaurav, who had been married to Pooja for seven years, said that he had warned his wife and Shival that they should stop seeing each other but they continued to meet. ''I have what I should have done.....their relations lowered our image in the society,'' a defiant Gaurav said. Eyewitnesses said that they did not try to save the deceased as the killers threatened that they would meet the same fate.

Police officials said that a case was registered in this regard and an investigation was on.