Maharashtra: 17 year old girl strangled by father, suspected case of honour killing

A 17-year-old girl in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra was allegedly killed by her father who was against her friendship with a boy studying with her in a college here, police said on Sunday.

Jamkhed police station inspector Pandurang Pawar said they suspected it to be a case of 'honour killing'. The girl used to frequently chat with the boy on phone and go to college with him on his two-wheeler, he said.

Her father Pandurang Shreerang Saygunde, 51, asked her several times to discontinue her friendship with the boy but the girl failed to heed his advice, he said. On March 23, Saygunde, in a fit of anger, allegedly strangled his daughter to death at their home in Chondi village, located around 60 km from here, Pawar said.

He also allegedly tried to burn the body with the help of the girl's two maternal uncles and later lodged a missing complaint about his daughter at Jamkhed police station on March 24, he said. The half-burnt body was found by the deceased's sister on March 25 near a water body close to their house, he said. The police later sent the body for postmortem.

They questioned around 35 people and based on information and clues gathered in connection with the incident, Saygunde and the girl's two uncles - Rajendra Jagannath Shinde (30) and Dnyandev Jagannath Shinde (35) - were arrested on Saturday evening, Pawar said.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), he said, adding that a probe was underway into the case.

-PTI