Man stabs pregnant daughter to death for marrying against his wishes in Mumbai

Manglore Today News Network

Mumbai, Jul 16, 2019 : The police arrested a 55-year-old man on Monday for stabbing and killing his pregnant daughter on a street in Ghatkopar two days earlier, as she had married against his wishes, Hindustan Times.

 

The body of the 20-year-old woman was found with her throat slit, in a pool of blood on Sunday morning.

The police said Rajkumar Chaurasiya was angry that his daughter, Meenakshi Brijesh Chaurasiya, had twice refused to marry the men he had chosen for her. In February this year, Meenakshi eloped with Brijesh Chaurasiya, who is from the same village in Uttar Pradesh as her family, and is a distant relative. In March, the couple got married in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, and then came to Mumbai where Brijesh runs a paan shop. Both families live in Ghatkopar.

“The father had fixed Meenakshi’s wedding to another man in March, and printed invitation cards. However, Meenakshi refused to get married and eloped with Brijesh instead,” said Akhilesh Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, zone 7.

The police said the immediate trigger was Meenakshi’s decision to go back to their village in UP for the Ganpati festival later this year. “For Rajkumar, Meenakshi’s marriage had brought shame to his family as villagers taunted him about his daughter not obeying him,” said a police officer, not wishing to be named. “The father also suspected that Meenakshi got pregnant before she got married, and feared that this would become a topic of gossip for the rest of their village,” the officer said.

On Saturday evening, Rajkumar asked Meenakshi to meet him in Ghatkopar saying he wanted to give her money to buy new clothes. When they met, he deliberately dropped some money on the road and asked her to pick it up. When she bent, he attacked her with a sharp weapon on her neck and head, the police said.

Investigations showed Meenakshi was killed at around 9.30pm on Saturday, but her body was found by passersby only after sunrise the next morning and informed the police.

On Sunday, the police questioned Brijesh and Meenakshi’s parents. Rajkumar initially claimed he was in Chembur at the time of the murder. He also reacted violently when the police further questioned him. This increased their suspicion. The police then traced his mobile’s location on Sunday morning, which matched with Meenakshi’s — placing him at the spot of the crime. “We showed him the evidence, and he finally confessed,” said the officer.

The police has booked Rajkumar for murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).