23-year-old woman shot, police sniff honour killing

LUCKNOW: A young woman was shot dead in the small hours of Thursday in a suspected case of honour killing in Maal. Police arrested her elder brother later in the night and charged him with murder.

Rekha Yadav

(23) was found dead with a bullet wound on the head in her room by her mother, Geeta Yadav, who returned home from a function in Kakori, police said. The main door was bolted from inside while her uncle was asleep in another room oblivious of the incident.

Accused Ramendra Yadav, preliminary investigation has revealed, was opposed to his sister’s relationship with a

Dalit

youth of the village and decided to teach her a lesson when other family members were away. He killed her and returned to the function, police said.

Father of the deceased woman

Om Prakash Yadav

is a Home Guard jawan and part of a politician’s security detail. He had left home for work at 6pm on Wednesday. “My wife Geeta and relatives were attending a tilak ceremony in Kakori. Rekha was at home with her uncle. I got a panicked call from Geeta early in the morning. We are trying to come to terms with our loss,” Yadav said.

SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said the young woman had had a long telephonic conversation with the youth she had a relationship with before she was killed.

“Her parents did not know she had a phone, which was a gift from the youth. We have seized it (as evidence). Ramendra after dropping his mother and relatives off at the function returned home to find Rekha chatting with her lover. He shot her dead in a fit of rage,” Naithani said, adding that police were probing from where the youth procured the

firearm

.

The body has been sent for post-mortem and Ramendra booked for murder, a police officer said.