7 murders involving kin shook city post-lockdown

Ludhiana: Post-lockdown, Ludhiana saw seven murders involving blood relations. Illicit or strained relations were the triggers in most of these.
On June 20, Jodhewal police had received a complaint that a man, Mohammad Mehfooz, with the help of his friend, Mohammad Rafeeq, strangled his wife, Naju Khatoon, and buried her body in a graveyard. The June 14 incident came to light after the father of the woman approached the cops. On June 23, the body was exhumed for autopsy. Police said Mehfooz suspected his wife of having an illicit relation.
On June 10, Jatinder Singh, 45, along with his mother, Charanjit Kaur, 67, killed his father, Sham Singh Anand, 75, at their house in BRS Nagar. The septuagenarian was stabbed multiple times. Jatinder and Charanjit had strained relations with Sham Singh.
May 24 saw another such murder, when a woman, along with her son and teenage daughter, strangled her 40-year-old husband, a building contractor, with a television wire in their hose in Daresi. The woman had told the cops, “My husband wanted to develop physical relations with his daughter. He had earlier raped his step-daughter and my sister. When we objected to his misdemeanours, he thrashed us.”
Rajinder Manocha of Chandarlok Colony and three contract killers were arrested on May 20 for injuring the former’s brother Joginderpal Manocha and killing his nephew, Girish Manocha, over a monetary dispute. On May 13, the contract killers had opened fire at the father-son duo outside their house.
Mohammad Rivani of Alamgir village was arrested on May 16 for killing his wife Shakeela Bibi. The woman would object to his illicit relations. Rivani hit her with a blunt weapon, strangulated her and threw her body into a well on May 11.
The police had arrested Sukhbir Singh, 25, for killing his wife, Kamaljit Kaur, in Gahi Bhaini village of Koomkalan on March 29. The man suspected his wife of infidelity.
Vijay Prakash of Palm Vihar was nabbed for killing his wife, Tara Devi, on March 16. He had thrashed his wife to death in an inebriated condition as he suspected her of having illicit relations.
A city-based psychiatrist, Dr Anshu Gupta, said, “Marital dispute and family conflict cases are increasing. Post-lockdown, such cases have gone up by 20%. People can’t tolerate their partners having friends on social medial and spending time on them. This is leading to illicit relation suspicion. Liquor consumption adds to this. This is called Othello Syndrome in which those who consume excessive liquor tend to suspect their partners of infidelity. And the lockdown stress is making matters worse.”
He has a few suggestions to strengthen family ties.
“One should spend quality time with family. S(he) can engage each family member, especially children, into activities. Also, one should stop being judgmental,” he added.