Honour killing: Mandya teen killed for having affair with Dalit

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Mandya: Mandya Police on Monday claim to have cracked the alleged murder case of a 19-year-old girl, whose body was found under mysterious circumstances in the city on April 3.

The deceased, identified as Monica was found hanging in a field in Mandya on April 3.

As per the reports, the 19-year-old girl, belonging to Gowda community, paid with her life for eloping with a Dalit boy.

According to police, Monica eloped with her boyfriend and apparently married him thereafter last month. However, she was traced by her family and was brought back home on March 30.

According to District superintendent of police Sudheerkumar Reddy, Monica's father and uncle tried persuading her to give her love for the Dalit boy and stay away from him as it would have brought bad name to the family.

However, she flatly rejected their requests after which the accused hatched a plan to kill her.

SP Reddy told the reporters, that her father and two maternal uncles, who were detained on Monday, admitted to murdering the girl and hanging her from a tree in a bid to make it appear like a suicide.

According to police, the family cremated her on their farmland in Timmana Hosur village in Mandya Taluk on early Sunday giving rise to suspicion. By the time the police reached the spot, the body was completely burnt leaving no proof behind.

"We repeatedly interrogated the family members separately for hours and there were many inconsistencies in their statements. After a while, Monica's father and her uncles admitted of their involvement in the crime," The News Minute quoted Reddy as saying.