Woman in police car shot dead by brothers over inter-caste relationship

MEERUT: A 25-year-old woman succumbed to injuries last night at AIIMS Rishikesh after she was allegedly shot in the head by her brothers outside a community health centre in Saharanpur while police were taking her there for a medical examination on Monday evening. Police suspect her family attacked her because they opposed her relationship with a man from another caste.Officers investigating the case believe the attack was planned to stop the woman from giving a statement before a magistrate in support of her partner, who her family accused of kidnapping her. Investigators said that since she was an adult, her statement would have protected the man from legal action.SP (rural) Sagar Jain said, "The woman had been missing since March 16 and appeared at the police station on Monday morning. She told officers that she had left with a man from another caste and wanted to live with him."After recording her statement, police took her for a medical examination in a vehicle driven by a sub-inspector and accompanied by a woman constable. As the vehicle reached the community health centre, her brothers, Monty Kumar and Ravi Singh, residents of Ramkhedi village, arrived on a motorcycle, intercepted the police vehicle and came near the window.Jain added, "They came near the car window to speak, but before police could understand what was happening, one of them fired at her with an illegal pistol and the two fled." He said she was taken for treatment and later shifted to AIIMS Rishikesh, where she succumbed to her injuries. Her brother Monty has been arrested, and police are searching for her other brother.