A man along with two others were arrested for allegedly killing his minor daughter and her lover in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, the police said on Thursday.
The arrested individuals are the girl’s father — Kaneswar Patel, uncle Debananda Patel and brother-in-law Tankadhar Naik.
All the three accused have been forwarded to court.
The three were allegedly involved in killing the couple — Jemamani Patel (20) and Sunil Patel (22), and hung their bodies near Banjipadar village.
After receiving a call on July 9, the police recovered the decomposed bodies of Jemamani and Sunil from a graveyard at Banjipadar village, said Kalahandi Superintendent of Police, Abhilas G.
During the investigation, it was found that Jemamani and Sunil were in a relationship and their family members were opposed to their relationship as both happened to be “distantly” related as niece and uncle, respectively, he said.
Therefore, they eloped from homes on June 30 and were hiding in a dense sugarcane field, the police officer said.
After getting information about the couple’s “hideout”, the accused trio rushed to the sugarcane field and strangled them to death.
They then took Jemamani and Sunil to the nearby funeral ground and hung them in a bid to make it look like a case of suicide, the police officer said.
Also, on July 2, the girl’s father, Kaneswar Patel, had lodged a missing complaint at a police station to misguide the police, he added.
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