A 17-year-old girl and her 21-year-old lover in Etawah killed her father after he opposed their relationship, then hid his body in a trunk and fled.
A 17-year-old girl conspired with her 21-year-old lover to murder her own father in Etawah, then wrapped his body in a blanket, locked it inside a trunk and fled the house. The body was discovered four days later only after neighbours complained of a foul smell.
Police arrested the daughter and her lover, Abhilash Singh, on Monday and sent them to jail. The killing took place on October 21 at 2:30 PM in the Civil Lines police station area, the day she allegedly laced her father’s tea with sleeping pills.
Shyamsunder Katheria lived with his 17-year-old daughter on the premises of the TB Hospital in Kanshiram Colony, Etawah, and worked as a security guard at a hotel. His elder daughter, Kajal, is married and lives in Bhikanpur village in Jaswantnagar.
According to SSP Brijesh Kumar Srivastava, the girl told investigators that around five months ago she had asked Kajal to recharge her mobile phone. Kajal passed her number to her husband, who got it recharged through his friend Abhilash Singh, a labourer from Matantola Aheiripur. After the recharge, Abhilash began talking to the girl.
When Shyamsunder learnt of the relationship, he opposed it. He counselled his daughter repeatedly, but when she refused to listen, he assaulted her. That response turned her against him.
The girl wanted to live with Abhilash, and according to police, the two conspired to kill her father. On October 21, she allegedly mixed sleeping pills into his tea. Once he was unconscious, the pair tied him to a charpoy, attacked his neck with a knife and struck his head repeatedly with a grinding stone.
They then set about hiding the crime. Their first attempt was to force the body into a refrigerator, which failed. They wrapped him in a blanket, placed him inside a trunk, threw his mobile phone into a drain and fled.
On Sunday, October 25, neighbours grew suspicious after a foul smell began coming from the room and alerted police, who broke the lock and recovered the body from the trunk. Kajal was informed and said she had been unable to reach her father or sister for three to four days. She filed a murder complaint on Monday.
Police checking vehicles near Gwalior Tiraha received information that the pair were in Sarai Esar village. Abhilash was arrested near the check road and, during questioning, revealed the girl was at his house, from where she was taken into custody.
A grinding stone, a knife, bloodstained clothes and the trunk were recovered.