All 6 accused sent to judicial custody

NEW DELHI: All six accused in the suspected case of honour killing, the kin of the deceased woman’s family were sent to 14 days judicial custody on Saturday. They were arrested for allegedly killing a 25-year-od girl in East Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar, the police said. They disposed the body in Aligarh, around 80 km from Delhi. A case was registered and the accused — mother Suman, father Ravindra, uncles Sanjay, Om Prakash, cousin Parvesh and brother-inlaw Ankit — were subsequently arrested.

The victim has been identified as Sheetal Chaudhary, a resident of New Ashok Nagar.

The police said Sheetal was in love with one Ankit Bhati, who lived in the same neighbourhood. They were in a relationship for the past three years and had got married at Arya Samaj temple in October 2019.

The girl went missing and the husband suspected the role of her parents and relatives. During preliminary investigation, when the police went to Sheetal’s house, they were told by the family that she had gone to her uncle’s house. The police then went to the uncle’s house but failed to find her, the officer said.

The police got a lead in the case after the call details record of her family members were analysed.

They were interrogated separately and discrepancies were found in their statements. During sustained interrogation, they confessed to have killed Sheetal, the police said.

They told cops that on January 30, the parents and other relatives of Sheetal strangled her. They put her body in a car and drove to Aligarh. They later disposed it into a canal there and returned to Delhi, a senior police officer said. Her last rites were performed on February 2 by UP police.