A day after the body of a woman was stuffed into a sack and dumped on the roadside in Ludhiana, the police said on Thursday that she was “strangled to death” by her in-laws following a domestic dispute. The woman’s father-in-law, mother-in-law, and a relative have been arrested, the police added.
The police identified the victim as Reshma, a woman in her thirties who hailed from Uttar Pradesh, and the arrested accused as her father-in-law Krishan, a security guard at a private firm, her mother-in-law, Dulari, and their relative, Ajay.
“Her father-in-law and mother-in-law said that they used to have arguments with her as she used to roam outside till late in the night and would go out without their permission. They said she would return home by 10 or 11 pm in the night which they did not like,” Sub-Inspector Amarjit Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Division Number 8 police station, said.
SHO Singh said that after Reshma was murdered, Krishan and Ajay stuffed the body in a sack, wrapped the sack with a cloth, loaded it on Krishan’s bike, and tried to dump it on Ferozepur Road near Aarti Chowk in Ludhiana.
However, the duo was confronted by some locals. Asked what was inside the sack, the accused allegedly gave vague replies such as “rotten mangoes”, “dead dog”, etc. Both of them fled the scene, leaving behind the bike. Reshma’s body was found when the sack was opened.
The videos of the incident, when the duo was confronted by locals for dumping the sack, went viral on social media.
SHO Singh said that Reshma’s husband stayed in Uttar Pradesh, and the couple had a strained relationship. “Her husband and in-laws had complaints that Reshma did not obey them and used to roam outside without their permission. Some months ago, Reshma came to Ludhiana with her in-laws while her husband was still in Uttar Pradesh,” said the officer.
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An FIR was registered under sections 103 (murder) and 3(5) (common intention to commit a criminal act) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Division Number 8 police station following a complaint by Manoj Kumar, in whose house the family stayed on rent.
Kumar, a resident of Maharaj Nagar, told the police that Reshma and her in-laws were his tenants. On Tuesday, he said, he learnt that there was an intense argument between them. On Wednesday morning, he added, he saw a sack wrapped in a cloth lying near the main gate of the house. He said that he assumed the family might have packed their stuff as they were planning to vacate the room, but when he saw the viral videos on the internet, he realised that the couple had murdered their daughter-in-law, he told the police.
The police, who had initially suspected that the second-hand bike the two men rode was stolen, said Krishan had purchased it from the Sunet area.
