COPS ON LOOKOUT FOR MAN WHO KILLED FIVEMONTH PREGNANT SISTER IN SONEPAT

In an apparent case of honour killing, a pregnant woman was shot dead by her brother at Lath village of Sonepat district on Thursday, police said.

The deceased has been identified as Niku, 27, who was around five months pregnant.

The police said the reason behind the murder has allegedly come out to be Niku marrying her sisterin-law’s brother against her family’s wishes. Niku’s husband Deepak said his sister Rozi was married to Vikram, 32, (Niku’s brother), the accused, of Jhajjar in 2014. A year later in 2015, Deepak said he fell in love with Niku and married her.

“Vikram and his family were not happy with our marriage as it was not an arranged one like Vikram and my sister’s, but we anyway decided to go ahead with it,” said Deepak.

He said that he was sitting with his wife at home on Thursday when Vikram came in with his friends. “I went to make tea for them in the kitchen while Niku sat with them in the room. Suddenly, Vikram got up and fired at Niku from a pistol that was in his pocket and ran away with his friends. I rushed my wife to PGI Khanpur Kalan where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival,” said Deepak.

The police have booked Vikram under sections 302 (murder) and 449 (house trespassing in order to commit murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under suitable sections of the Arms Act. He and his friends are on the run, police said.

The incident comes a few weeks after a Sonepat court sentenced five members of a family to life imprisonment for killing their 17-year-old daughter who had eloped to marry a boy of a different caste.

In a similar incident in November 2016, a man had fired three shots at her pregnant sister for marrying in a lower caste against her family’s wishes. She had survived the attack and gave birth to a boy through C-section.

Vikram and his family were not happy with our marriage as it was not arranged, but we decided to still go ahead. DEEPAK, deceased’s husband