Couple held for killing daughter

The Narnoor police booked a couple for the alleged murder of their daughter, Rajeshwari Pawar, 21, in their house at Nagalkonda village in Narnoor mandal, Adilabad, on Friday morning.

Narnoor circle inspector K. Prem Kumar told Deccan Chronicle that Rajeshwari’s body was found with her throat slit, and only her parents Devidas and Ramabai were at the house when the incident took place. Devidas was found with an injury to his leg.

CI Prem Kumar said the neighbours had not reported hearing any unusual sound from the house, nor did the family members inform the police about the incident.The victim was the youngest of three daughters, the other two were married.

The police official said that disputes had broken out in the family over the last two months. Investigation was proceeding in different angles and police were verifying if the family disputes were about a reported love affair of Rajeshwari.

The post-mortem examination was conducted at the government hospital in Utnoor and family members took the body to their village.

As news of the murder spread in the village and beyond, there were reports that it was an ‘honour killing’ and that her parents had killed Rajeshwari because she had married a Muslim youth. CI Prem Kumar, however, said that police had found during their investigation that Rajeshwari was unmarried. Police did not provide many details of the incident. Nagalkonda village has a large population of Lambadas, the community to which Rajeshwari belonged, and Muslims.

It was also said that a ‘panchayat’ was held on the reported ‘marriage’ village and Rajeshwari and the purported groom were separated after getting married a month ago.

There were also rumours that Rajeshwari’s parents had lodged a complaint with the police who had arrested the boy.