Man shoots dead minor daughter in MP, dumps body in river; honour killing suspected

Morena (MP), Sep 28 (PTI) A 17-year-old girl was shot dead allegedly by her father, who threw her body into a river, in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district in what police suspect to be a case of “honour killing”, an official said on Sunday.

The body was retrieved from the Kwari river near Galetha village on Sunday, five days after the murder, Civil Lines police station house officer Darshan Shukla told PTI.

Bharat, alias Bantu Sikarwar, was detained on Saturday after a neighbour tipped the police that the elder daughter of the accused had been missing. The caller also told the cops that he heard a gunshot and a scream from the Sikarwar’s house four days ago, the official said.

The incident took place on September 23 at the family’s residence in Ambah Bypass locality in Morena city. Victim Divya was a Class 12 student, he said.

Sources said Sikarwar had been upset after learning that his daughter was in love with a person.

Shukla said the accused initially gave evasive replies about Divya’s whereabouts. Upon sustained interrogation, he claimed that she died after a ceiling fan fell on her head and that he disposed of the body in Kwari river in his native Galetha village as “she was unmarried”.

Police launched a search operation with the help of the State Disaster Emergency Response Force on Saturday, but it had to be halted after dark. The search resumed on Sunday, and Divya’s body was recovered around 10 am, he added.

The body has been sent to the district hospital for post-mortem, Shukla said, adding that further action will be taken based on the autopsy report. PTI COR LAL NR