Police said that primary investigation has found that the two were in a relationship and their parents were opposed to it.(Representational image)
A young couple, who had reportedly eloped on Thursday, following which the man was booked for abduction, allegedly committed suicide by slashing their wrists and then jumping from the terrace of a sixth floor commercial-cum-residential building in Lucknow’s Hazratganj area early Friday.
The deceased have been identified as Ojas Tiwari (22) and Kajal Pandey (20). While Ojas was pursuing a videography course from a private institute, Kajal was a final-year graduate student in a girls’ degree college at Naka area of Lucknow. Both used to stay at Qaiserbagh’s Maqboolganj locality.
Police said that primary investigation has found that the two were in a relationship and their parents were opposed to it. Officers said they have also found a suicide note, purportedly written by Pandey.
Hazratganj police Circle Officer Abhay Kumar Shukla said that the police control room received a call from a woman around 7 am, stating that two bodies were lying on the premises of Surajdeep complex on Jopling Road.
“A team rushed to the place and found a boy and a girl lying in a pool of blood… they sustained injuries on their wrists and heads. Later, blood stains were spotted at the terrace of the complex along with a shaving razor… Circumstantial evidence indicates that they first slashed their wrists and later jumped to end their lives,” he added.
Shukla said that soon after, Qaiserbagh police SHO Dhirendra Kumar Upadhyay contacted his Hazratganj counterpart and said that Pandey’s uncle Bhaskar Pandey had lodged an FIR under Section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) of the IPC against Tiwari at Qaiserbagh police station.
“Upadhyay forwarded photographs of the deceased and the Hazratganj police confirmed that they were the same couple. Later, both families arrived and identified the bodies,” the CO added.
Qaiserbagh police Circle Officer Amit Kumar Rai said Pandey’s family lives in Maqboolganj on rent near the boy’s house. “While searching Kajal’s room, we found a notebook, carrying a suicide note… she has written that she was in love with Ojas and their families were against the relationship. She added that they would commit suicide if their families did not agree to their marriage,” he added.
While Pandey’s father is an accountant with a private firm, Tiwari’s father is a lawyer, said Rai.