Wife’s kin held for murder of man after inter-faith marriage

KTR demands harshest of punishments as per IPC

The Saroornagar police on Thursday announced the arrest of two persons in connection with the killing of a 25-year-old car sales executive allegedly murdered by his wife’s brother and a relative on the busy road at Saroornagar on Wednesday night.

The accused were identified as Syed Mobin Ahmed, 30, a fruit vendor from Gurumurthy Nagar, Balanagar, and his relative Mohammed Masood Ahmed, 29, a car mechanic from Tara Nagar, Serilingampally.

Sharing further details about the case, Deputy Commissioner of Police (LB Nagar Zone) Sunpreet Singh said Mobin Ahmed bore a grudge against the victim, Dillipuram Nagaraju, a resident of Brundavan Colony, as he married his sister Ashrin Sulthana at Arya Samaj, Lal Darwaza, on January 31 against their wishes, and decided to eliminate him. Fearing threat from the woman’s family, the couple moved to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for a brief period and returned recently.

Ms. Sulthana told the media that her family declined their proposal despite repeatedly expressing their intention to marry as they belong to different faiths. “He was even willing to convert to Islam, but my family never accepted the relationship,” she said.

Around 9 p.m. on Wednesday when the couple was travelling on their two-wheeler, the accused followed them and obstructed. They hit the victim with an iron rod on his head and later attacked him with a knife in full public view. When the onlookers attempted to stop them, the duo threatened them. “He was stabbed to death,” police said. A video of Ms. Sulthana pleading with her brother not to harm her husband went viral on the internet.

Mr. Singh said Nagaraju and Ashrin Sulthana were friends since their school days and went to the same college. On January 30, she left her home and the very next day they got married. On February 1, Sultana’s family lodged a missing at Balanagar police station.

Since then Mobin bore a grudge against his sister’s husband. He along with Masood Ahmed hatched a conspiracy and a month ago they tried to locate him but in vain, and continued their efforts. Again on Wednesday, they started looking for the victim and went to his workplace at Malakapet. The accused thought it was not the right place to kill Nagaraju and followed him and executed their plan at Panjala Anil Kumar Colony, and fled from the spot only after Nagaraju was dead, Mr. Singh said.

On Thursday evening, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao condemned the incident and tweeted: “Please make sure they are given the harshest of punishments possible as per IPC @mahmoodalitrs Ji and @TelanganaDGP garu. Thanks to @RachakondaCop for your swift action.”

Local BJP leaders and human rights activists staged a dharna and demanded justice for the victim.