‘Honour killing’: Husband booked for misleading police

LUCKNOW - A day after a couple declared dead by police in an “honour killing” made a dramatic reappearance in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, the police Monday registered a case against the husband and two of his family members.

Ajit Saini and Anshu Tomar were declared dead by the police after they disappeared for a few days, followed by the identification of a highly mutilated body as that of Saini’s. The couple resurfaced before the police Sunday.

While the case against Saini (23) was lodged for enticing Tomar to elope with him, a separate case was lodged against his father and uncle for “misleading the police”. A body with its throat slit was found in the New Mandi area Saturday and was identified as that of Saini by his family.

“We are yet to ascertain whose body it was, but a case has been registered aggainst Saini’s father and uncle for wrong identification of body that subsequently affected the investigations,” a police officer said.

Anshu’s brother Anuj was arrested Saturday and he admitted to murdering Saini.

“I hacked him for the sake of honour… I wanted to save the prestige of my family and, therefore, killed him,” Anuj told reporters.

Police have now launched a fresh investigation to ascertain the true identity of the mutilated body.

“The fact remains that Anshu’s brother actually killed someone, so we have directed a fresh probe into the whole affair,” Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters Sunday.