LUCKNOW: Siddharthnagar police on Tuesday arrested a man for the
murder
of his 17-year-old daughter.
In his confessional statement, the accused, Prahalad Kumar told the police that his daughter Sandhya was in a relationship with her classmate. Kumar had objected to the relationship because the boy was from another caste. When she refused, he strangled her to death with his muffler.
Superintendent of police, Siddharthnagar, Prachi Singh said that Sandhya’s body was found on Feb 10 in Kharagwar village under Shohratgarh police station. Her mother identified the body, prompting the registration of an FIR against a boy of her daughter’s age.
“We found some bales of rice near her body and the victim’s mother claimed that it must have been laced with sedatives offered by her boyfriend, thus accusing him of murder,” said Singh.
Another senior officer involved in the investigation said that when the police questioned the victim’s mother about her husband’s whereabouts, she claimed he was in Mumbai. However, her husband’s location was traced to Lucknow. “We quickly formed teams and apprehended her husband,” the police added.
Prahalad confessed that he disapproved of Sandhya’s relationship with her friend, who was of the same age. In his confession, Prahalad claimed he planned the murder due to societal pressure and fear of tarnishing his reputation.
“I told my wife that I would be going to Mumbai for a job and even purchased a ticket for the Panvel Express at Shohratgarh railway station early in the morning, as the train arrives by 6.40 am. However, I did not board the train and instead loitered around the station premises,” Prahalad said during police interrogation.
“Around 9 am, I purchased rice and chickpeas from a vendor. After eating the chickpeas, I kept the rice in my bag and continued wandering. At approximately 11 am, I noticed my daughter and the boy at the railway station but did not react. Later in the day, I again saw my daughter, who was returning home from evening school. I took Sandhya to the Chetia turn and set off to Jogmata temple to offer prayers,” he said.
“I asked her not to see that boy again. However, she refused, saying that it was her life and she would live it her way. I got angry at this and throttled her neck with a muffler. I then staged the scene to appear as though Sandhya had been poisoned by her lover. Subsequently, I fled to Aishbagh, Lucknow,” he said in his confession.
Police revealed that in the past too, Prahalad had warned Sandhya not to associate with that boy.
