Couple arrested for poisoning teen, Lover held for kidnap
Bengaluru, Sep 14 (DHNS): In a case of honour killing, a 16-year-old girl was poisoned to death by her parents in Ramanagara district on Saturday night as she had eloped with a Dalit youth.
Govindaraju, a barber by profession, and his wife Jayalakshamma fed the girl, a school dropout, food laced with poison. The police on Sunday arrested the couple on charge of murder.
The Ramanagara Rural police have also arrested Manjunath (21), the Dalit youth, on charge of kidnap and provisions of the POCSO Act as the girl was a minor.
The police said the girl fell in love with Manjunath, a painter and native of Hubballi, when staying at her elder sister’s house at Sunkadakatte in Bengaluru.
After learning about the affair, her parents took her back to their village K G Hosahalli. However, the duo continued to meet as Manjunath used to visit her village.
On September 6, Manjunath went to K G Hosahalli and the duo eloped to Sunkadakatte and from there to Hubballi.
The girl’s parents lodged a missing person's report with the police. The cops learnt about the girl’s affair with Manjunath and tracked him down to Hubballi based on his mobile phone call details.
A police team went to Hubballi, traced the duo and brought them to Ramanagara on Saturday evening. After counselling the girl, the police handed her over to her parents.
Around 9 pm, the parents made her eat the poisoned food, and she died later. On Sunday morning, the neighbours suspected something fishy and informed the police.
The parents confessed to the killing during questioning, said the police.
“They said they could not live with honour in the village as their daughter had eloped with a youth from a lower caste, and thus decided to kill her,” said a senior police officer.