A Dalit boy and his Muslim girlfriend were brutally murdered by the girl’s family at Saladahalli village in Devara Hipparagi taluk in Karnataka’s Vijayapura district.
According to the reports, the 19-year-old Basavaraj Madivalapaa Badiger, an autorickshaw driver at Saladahalli village, and his 18-year-old lover Davalbi Bandagisab Tambad, a resident of the neighbouring Khanapur, were allegedly murdered by the father and other family members of the girl.
As per the villagers, the boy and girl were in a relationship for the past six months. The girl’s family members had warned Badiger to stay away from her. But they continued to meet, which had irked the girl’s family. On Tuesday, a member of the girl’s family found the couple together at a field and informed her father.
The father of the girl and other family members rushed to the field and stabbed them after tying them with a rope, the police said.
According to Mallavva, the mother of the deceased Dalit youth Badiger, the girl’s family tied the couple to the tree and trashed them in front of her. After trashing them heavily, the Muslim family killed them with sharp objects and stone. “I begged them to let the couple go, however, they kept on thrashing the couple,” said Mallavva to Asianet.
“Prima facie, it looks like a case of honour killing. But the case has to be investigated further. The accused are absconding, and we are searching for them,” Vijayapura SP Anupam Agarwal said. The police officer said that no arrest has been made yet in connection with the double murder.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family members, including her father, brothers and two other relatives, are absconding. The police have launched a manhunt to nab the accused in the case.