Husband, kin held after woman’s burnt body found in Kharar

Police arrested a Kharar man and his father in an alleged dowry death case after the burnt body of his wife was recovered from their house in Shivalik Enclave on Friday.

Locals called the police after they saw smoke coming out from the roof of a building on Friday afternoon.

When cops reached there, they found the burnt body of a woman lying in the storeroom on the top floor. The victim was later identified as Dharamjit Kaur, 30, wife of Rupinder Pal Singh.

Dharamjit, who was from Himachal Pradesh, had married Singh around five years back. Her sister Swarnjit Kaur told police that Dharamjit’s in-laws had been harassing her.

The police, on her complaint, registered a case against Rupinder, his father Ujjal Singh, mother Harbhajan Kaur, brother Gurpreet Singh, sister Sarbjit Kaur and her husband Manpreet Singh under Section 304B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The crime carries a punishment of at least seven years and up to life imprisonment.

Police by the evening managed to arrested Rupinder and his father and were quizzing them for details till the filing of this report.

Kharar (city) station house officer Kamaljit Singh said: “The victim’s sister had filed the complaint against her husband and his five family members. We have arrested the husband and father-in-law and are investigating the matter. The body has been sent for postmortem.”

Police have also recovered an empty kerosene can from the storeroom.

Sources said the complainant told the police that they were five sisters. Their uncle in Kullu had sold a chunk of land and deposited ₹10 lakh each in the name of all five sisters a few days back, the complainant reportedly told the police. Dharamjit’s in-laws were aware that she was to get her share of ₹10 lakh but were upset with the fact that the amount was in a fixed deposit in her name instead of cash, Swarnjit allegedly told the police.

First Published: Sep 01, 2018 13:17 IST