Hyderabad, Jun 10 (IANS): In an alleged case of 'honour' killing, a couple in Telangana strangulated their 20-year-old daughter to death as she had refused to undergo abortion and drop plans for marriage with a youth of another caste.

The shocking incident occurred in Jogulamba Gadwal district in the early hours of Sunday but came to light much later.

The girl, a first year degree student, was brutally murdered by her parents Bhaskara Shetty and Veeramma at their house in Kulukuntla village.

According to police, they used a pillow to throttle her when she was asleep. They told the villagers that she died of sudden cardiac arrest.

However, police swung into action on a tip-off and noticed injury marks on the deceased's neck. The body was shifted for autopsy, which established that she was strangulated.

"We had initially registered the case of death under suspicous circumstances but later altered the section to book the girl's parents for murder. Both have been arrested and sent to judicial custody," sub inspector of police K. Sreehari said.

Police investigations revealed that the girl was studying at a private college in Kurnool town of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. She was reportedly in love with a classmate, belonging to another caste. Her parents were against this relationship.

As she was not feeling well for the last few days, her parents took her to a hospital in Kurnool on June 6 and the examination revealed that she was 13 weeks pregnant. They asked her to go for abortion but she refused and insisted that she will marry the same youth. They returned to the village the same day.

Worried over the bad name the family may get and the impact this could have on the marriage of their two other daughters, the couple hatched a plan to kill her.

Shetty and Veeramma, who were sleeping along with two daughters in open, woke up past midnight and went into the room where their eldest daughter was asleep and executed their plan, the police official said.