From Bihar to Gujarat and killed in UP: How cops cracked an honour killing case of a young couple
The case involved a 19-year-old woman and her husband, 22-year-old Dukhan Shaw, who hailed from Motipur village in Bihar’s Patna district.
Police have finally cracked the “honour killing” case of a young Bihar couple, weeks after their bodies were found in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district’s Hathinala area.
The case, which spanned across three states- Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar, led to the arrest of the woman's two brothers while a search is on for the other two who are still absconding.
The duo arrested on Wednesday has been identified as 22-year-old Munna Kumar and 28-year-old Rahul alias Siddharth.
What was the ‘honour killing’ case that spanned three states?
According to the police, the case involved a 19-year-old woman and her husband, 22-year-old Dukhan Shaw, who hailed from Motipur village in Bihar’s Patna district.
Both belonged to the backward class and eloped together in June. The couple got married against the wishes of the girl's family, after which they started living in Gujarat’s Valsad district, the Indian Express reported.
According to the report, the couple allegedly went missing in September, prompting Shaw’s brother Sunny to file a complaint with the Gujarat Police.
In the complaint, the man’s brother accused the woman’s brother of kidnapping him, and the cop began probing the matter.
The first lead came last month when a woman’s body with a head injury, suspected to be a bullet wound, was recovered from Sonbhadra on September 24. But it proved to be a dead end as the attempts to identify the body by checking with adjoining districts and states yielded no information.
It was challenging as Sonbhadra shares its borders with four states, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
The case finally blew open when the Gujarat Police contacted cops in Sonbhadra to inquire about the missing couple’s case.
Based on the information shared by the Gujarat Police, the Sonbhadra police traced the couple's travels. They had reportedly left Gujarat by train for Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, from where they were expected to leave for Bihar.
According to the Indian Express report, the Sonbhadra police shared the deceased woman’s picture with their Gujarat counterparts, which Shaw’s family identified. The Bihar police was then brought into the loop, who confirmed that the woman’s family was against her marriage.
“After connecting the dots, we finally solved the case and arrested the woman’s two brothers for their role in the honour killing… a probe is going on to trace the other two brothers, Mukesh and Rakesh, who are still at large,” Sonbhadra superintendent of police (SP) Abhishek Verma was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.
The woman’s brothers confessed to killing the couple during interrogation. They even helped the cops locate the skeleton of Dukhan Shaw, about 10 kilometres away from where the woman's body was found.
Police said the woman’s body was also identified by her eldest brother, Rohit Kumar, who is currently not believed to be involved in the murders.
According to the cops, the woman’s brothers allegedly convinced the couple that they had accepted their relationship and wanted to hold a marriage function at their village in Bihar.
The victims left Gujarat with the accused Mukesh and Rakesh on September 21.
Sonbhadra Circle Officer Harsh Pandey said that the accused brought the couple to Mirzapur by train, where the woman’s brother, Rahul, was already present. From there, they were taken to Sonbhadra by car.
The police said that the accused stopped the car in a secluded place, shot them dead and disposed of the bodies in the forest area.
The cops are conducting further investigation into the case.
