The three accused in the Delhi “honour killings” case – Ankit Chaudhary, Mandeep Nagar and Nakul Khari – who were absconding since June 20 were arrested by the Garh Mukteshwar police in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
They were arrested in the Garh Mukteshwar police station area and their car was seized.
U.P. Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal said the three confessed to have killed Kuldeep, his wife Monica and her cousin Shobha in Ashok Vihar area of Delhi on June 20. The murders were committed within a space of a few hours.
All the three accused belong to the Gujjar caste and are from the Wazirpur area of Delhi.
Monica, who had eloped and married Kuldeep belonging to the Rajput caste, was the sister of Ankit, while Shobha is the sister of Mandeep. Shobha too is a said to have eloped with a boy from a different caste. Monica and Kuldeep were married in 2006.
Interrogation revealed that the three friends ganged up to kill Monica, Kuldeep and Shobha to avenge the “dishonour” they brought to the family and to ward off the villagers who taunted them about the love affair and subsequent marriage of the two girls to boys of different castes.
The ADG (Law and Order) told reporters here on Thursday that the accused first killed Shobha after she was called over by Mandeep. Later, they confronted Kuldeep in his Esteem car and killed him too. Finally, the three accused went over to Monica's residence and murdered her.
After executing the murder, the three left Delhi for Dehradun, Mussoorie and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand before entering Ghaziabad district of Uttar Prdesh on Thursday. The UP police officer said the Garh Mukteshwar police acted on a tip-off that three men in an I 10 car were moving suspiciously in the area and were looking for a hideout.
