Sonepat:
In yet another case of dishonour killing, two girls were murdered allegedly by their grandmother and two uncles and their bodies thrown into a canal for having an "affair" with one of their relatives.
Police had on Saturday arrested the three suspects after the bodies of the two girls were recovered from the Western Yamuna Canal near Barwasni village in the district on June 25.
The victims were identified as Chanchal (14) and her cousin Raj Kumari (12), both residents of Mohalla Kot in Sonepat City, police said.
Those arrested are the grandmother of the girls, Vidya Devi, and their uncles Suraj and Chand, they said.
Police claimed that the three accused had confessed to their crime. They had told the police that both the girls had developed "illicit relations" with Vijay (16), Chanchal's step-brother who was also staying with Vidya Devi.
Police believe that the trio had taken the step to "save the honour" of the family after the alleged affair of the girls came to light.
The girls had been cautioned against developing any such relation but they did not pay any heed, the trio claimed.
Enraged over their "behaviour", they took the victims in a car on June 25 after telling them that they will be going to the residence of Manoj, father of Raj Kumari, on Dewru village, according to police.
However, they allegedly strangulated the girls to death and threw their bodies in the canal, police said. The bodies got stuck on the canal's embankment and were noticed by some residents, who informed the police.
Police said that Manoj had been working in Delhi while Chanchal's father Surender was currently lodged in the district jail at Sonepat.
Surender had two wives - Sonia and Geeta and Vijay was the son of Sonia and Chanchal was Geeta's daughter. Vijay had come to Sonepat from Panchkula about a month ago.