A man was arrested in Odisha’s Kalahandi district in the murder case of his daughter and her boyfriend who were allegedly killed as their family was against the relationship since they were relatives, police said on Thursday.
The bodies of the couple, in their early 20s, were found hanging from a tree near their village in Dharamgarh police station on July 9, they said.
Besides the woman’s father, police said they also arrested her uncle and her brother-in-law.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhilas G said the man and the woman fell in love and were in a relationship for about a year. They were distant relatives.
The girl’s family got to know about it during the Rath Yatra festival last month. They were against it as marriage among relatives is banned in their community, he said.
The family warned the couple to end it, but the relationship continued, police said. On June 30, the couple went missing, following which the family thought that they ran away.
Late in the night, they found the couple hiding in a sugarcane field. The accused took them near a funeral ground where they allegedly strangulated them, police said.
To mislead the police, the woman’s father also filed a missing report, the SP said.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI)