Minor kills fiancé, sits beside body through night:Pretends to cry in morning; says, ‘Enraged after seeing photo with another girl’

After seeing a photo of her fiancé with another girl on his mobile phone, she confronted him, but he did not give a satisfactory answer. Enraged, the 17-year-old minor allegedly strangled him with an electric wire. To avoid suspicion, she called her would-be mother-in-law the next morning and pretended nothing had happened. This was revealed in the confession of the minor girl in connection with the incident that took place on Feb 11 in Khamaria village of Katni district. Police arrested her on Feb 13 and sent her to a juvenile home. The deceased was identified as 20-year-old Sunil Adivasi. The Dainik Bhaskar team visited Parsawara village, the deceased’s native place, located in the Vijayraghavgarh police station area, about 35 kilometres from the district headquarters. The team spoke with Sunil’s family members and Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Santosh Kumar Dehria to understand the sequence of events. According to the ASP, Sunil’s body was found inside a house in Khamaria village under the Rithi police station limits on the morning of Feb 11. During questioning, the minor initially gave vague responses, but later confessed to strangling him during a fit of anger. Sunil was only son of house The road to Parsawara village turns about 10 km before Vijayraghavgarh Road from Katni. There are mud houses on one side of the main road. When asked from a person there, he gave directions to Sunil’s house. All three houses belong to Sunil’s family. 10-12 people were sitting grieving outside the house. When asked about Sunil here, his father Ramesh Adivasi got up. With teary eyes, he said that he was the only son of the house. He was the only earning member. He supported the family by working as a laborer in a lime kiln. One elder sister is married, while he was responsible for his younger sister’s marriage. He left for work, but went to another village Ramesh said that on February 10, Sunil left home to work at the brick kiln. Meanwhile, mother had to go to Bina for crop harvesting. Before that, Sunil went to Khamharia village to meet his fiance. At 12:00 PM on February 11, I received a call on my mobile that he had died. Upon hearing this, I was shocked. I, brother Kamlesh and other villagers reached the village. There we were told that he was taken to Reethi hospital. Upon reaching the hospital, we found that the body had been kept in the postmortem room. Statements were recorded at Reethi police station. Ramesh said that a year ago, he went to Khamharia village for a distant relative’s wedding. There he met a girl from the village. Both started liking each other. The families had decided on their marriage. They were also engaged. The wedding was supposed to take place in June this year, but who knows what came into the girl’s mind that she killed the only son. Action should be taken against the culprit so that we can get justice. Mother said, ‘Son had said, you leave, I will come’ Upon entering the house, 4-5 women were seen cleaning grains. Among them was Sunil’s mother Laxmibai. Taking a deep breath, she explained that on February 10, we were preparing to go to Bina. During this time, the bride-to-be called. She called Sunil to meet at Khamharia village. Sunil told me – Mother, you keep my clothes ready. I will meet you at Katni Mudwara station in the evening. Saying this, he left home at 2:30 in the afternoon. When I reached the station at 5:00 in the evening, I talked to him. He said – I will come soon, don’t worry. If the train comes, you leave. I will come by another train. I reached Bina by catching a train. I arrived at the farmer’s place. The next day, that is February 11th around 12:00 noon, I received a call from the daughter-in-law. She said – “Mother, Sunil is not responding, something has happened to him, please come quickly.” Saying this, she hung up the phone. When I came back home anxiously, I learned that Sunil had died. Laxmibai said crying, if she didn’t like my son, she could have refused. We wouldn’t have done the marriage, but she shouldn’t have killed him. Whoever killed my child should get severe punishment, only then will the soul find peace. Saw the photo while checking mobile, killed in anger The girl told the police that our wedding was supposed to be in April, but for some reason the date got pushed to June. After the engagement, Sunil would often come and go to the house. On February 10, he came to the fair in nearby village Muhasa. From there he came home at 8:00 PM. He was completely drunk. Both had dinner together. After dinner, Sunil drank alcohol again. He lay down on the floor in the room and started using his mobile. I also lay down on the cot nearby and started using my mobile. Meanwhile, I wanted to check Sunil’s mobile. While checking the gallery, I saw his photo with another girl. Seeing this made me angry. When I asked Sunil about this, he didn’t give a proper answer. I said that we are going to get married, so it’s wrong to keep photos with another girl. Sunil got angry at this. He said – I will do this only, if you want to marry then marry, otherwise don’t. When I protested, he started abusing and even slapped me while threatening to kill me. I got angry. I took the electrical wire kept nearby and tightened it around his neck. He fell unconscious due to suffocation. Around 12:40 at night, I realized that Sunil had died. I panicked. Out of fear, I didn’t even tell my parents who were sleeping in the other room. I sat next to the body all night waiting for morning. When morning came, I moved the body from the room and placed it in the courtyard. I raised an alarm that something had happened to Sunil, he wasn’t waking up. Family members informed the police. Murder revealed in PM report and interrogation ASP Santosh Dehria said that upon receiving information, the police team reached the spot. The body was sent for postmortem. The report revealed that the murder was committed by strangulation. A murder case was registered and investigation was started. Family members revealed during questioning that at the time of the incident, the minor daughter-in-law and Sunil were in the same room. This made the police suspicious. With the help of the women police team, the girl was interrogated for four hours. Initially she kept changing her statement, but upon strict questioning she confessed to the crime. Police took the girl into custody and presented her before the juvenile court, from where she was sent to the juvenile correction home.