Ahmedabad: Dalit man beaten to death over son’s inter-caste marriage

Ahmedabad: A 52-year-old Dalit man, Natu Parmar, was allegedly beaten to death near Jivraj Bridge in the Anandnagar area on Saturday night, with police suspecting the crime to be linked to his son's inter-caste marriage. The marriage had turned acrimonious, police said on Sunday.According to a complaint filed with Anandnagar police by Natu Parmar's son, Kaushik, the attack occurred on Saturday night. Kaushik, a plumber, said he received a call from his friend Rahul Saresa around 8.32pm informing him that his father had been assaulted and was lying critically injured. Family members and friends shifted the victim to Parekh Hospital in an autorickshaw. He was admitted to the ICU but succumbed to severe head injuries during treatment. Police said Natu Parmar was attacked with iron pipes and wooden sticks and suffered multiple blows to the head and body. In his complaint, Kaushik stated that he married Malvika Thakor, a woman from the Thakor (OBC) community, around four years ago. While the inter-caste marriage initially led to friction, tensions reportedly escalated further in recent months due to disputes between the couple, with his wife staying at her parental home. The complainant alleged that the accused targeted his father over the marriage and the ensuing discord. Based on the complaint, police have named Kanu Thakor, Hasmukh Thakor, and Ketan Dhulaji Thakor, along with one unidentified person, as the accused in the case. "A preliminary probe suggests the attack stemmed from resentment over the inter-caste marriage, aggravated by ongoing marital issues between the couple," a police officer said. An FIR of murder and abetment under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been lodged, and further investigation is on.