Supposed to be the victims in an honour killing, a couple made a dramatic return on Sunday, much to the amazement of the boy’s family who had performed his ‘funeral’ earlier in the day.
Ajit Saini, 23, and Anshu Tomar, 21, fell in love while studying at the same college and decided to get married. But their inter-caste alliance — Saini-Jat — did not win approval of their parents. On April 29, the brother of the girl, Anuj Tomar, allegedly killed the boy, hacked him to pieces and buried him in a paddy field to save the “honour” of the family. Police, who found the body on May 8, said the girl might have met the same fate. The brother was arrested, and the entire town mourned the death of two innocent souls.
However, no one was able to come to terms with the fact that the couple were safe as Ajit and Anshu returned, hand in hand. It turns out that the two had eloped to Delhi on April 29 — their second elopement, the first being on April 18 — in order to escape the pressure of their families. They decided to come back only after watching the news of their “death” on news channels and in newspapers.
When they arrived at the Muzaffarnagar Police Station, police officers interrogated them and informed their family members, and confirmed that there had been a mistake in identifying the body that was found in the field.
“Now, there are three loose ends. We have to find out whose body it was that we found in the field, who the killer was and why the brother of the girl confessed to killing Ajit when he was still alive,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal said, “The brother of the girl, Anuj Tomar, had confessed his involvement in the murder without any pressure. We could not grill girl’s father, Narendra Tomar, properly because he had consumed some poisonous substance and was admitted to hospital. He has been discharged and we would question him again.”
On April 29, Ajit had left home for Pune for further studies while the girl went missing without any information. On May 8, the police found a mutilated body of a man in a paddy field. The legs of the body were missing and the face was hacked and badly disfigured. After the boy’s family identified the body, a case was lodged against the girl’s family.
On Saturday, the police arrested the girl’s father and brother.
The ADGP added that Ajit’s family had also blamed girl’s family after they identified the body “with (the help of) clothes and a mark found on the hand of the body”.
But after the couple’s comeback, the family members of the lovers reacted differently. While the girl’s family accused the police of acting in haste without checking facts, the family of the boy were overjoyed at his return.
Asked if now they would get the two married, Ram Kishore, Ajit’s uncle, said the two were as good as married. “Earlier, they had eloped on April 18 and claimed that they had gotten married at a temple but could not show any proof. The girl’s family then took her away,” he said. (expressindia)
