In a case of suspected honour killing, three members of a family, including the girl’s father, were arrested at Melkunda (B) village in Kalaburagi district on Thursday on the charge of strangling her over her love affair with a boy from the same village but belonging to different caste.
The victim’s father, Shankar S. Kollur, her uncle’s son, Sharanappa Mahalingappa Kollur, and a relative Dattappa Cholabardi, were arrested.
The accused family members strangled her to death after forcing her to consume pesticide. They tried to pass it off as suicide.
In a bid to destroy evidence, the accused family members cremated the body in Mahalingappa’s agriculture field early on Thursday morning.
The victim was identified as Kavita.
According to police reports and sources in the village, Kavita was in a relationship with a local autorickshaw driver Malappa Pujari belonging to a different caste. They were planning to elope, the sources said.
The family members were upset over Kavita’s decision of choosing love over social approval.
On Wednesday night, there were heated arguments between family members and Kavita. When the argument took a violent turn, the family members held her captive in a room and strangled her to death.
The Farhatabad Police, after collecting information about the brutal incident, registered a suo motu FIR and visited the agriculture field where the victim’s body was cremated.
The police team also collected bone fragments, soil samples and other material from the site.
