Bengaluru: Parents held for alleged honor killing of daughter

Ranjitha who had been living at her elder sister Manjula’s residence at Sunkadakatte in West Bengaluru had fallen in love with Manjunath, a painter hailing from Dharwad. Ranjitha was sent back to her village after her sister Manjula became aware of her relationship with Manjunath. The couple kept in touch over their mobile phones and recently eloped to Dharwad. Ranjitha’s father Govindaraju had filed a kidnapping case against Manjunath a week ago. The Ramnagar police who traced the couple down in Dharwad sent Ranjitha to her home in Ramanagar on Saturday. They arrested Manjunath for kidnap and remanded him to judicial custody.

Once Ranjitha was back home, the police say her parents decided to kill her and poisoned her food as part of a plan. On Sunday morning the parents allegedly created an alarm at the residence and told neighbors that their daughter had committed suicide, police said.

When the police took Govindaraju into custody and questioned him about the death he allegedly confessed to the crime. Police said that Govindaraju in his confession had stated that his reputation had been ruined in the village and the Savita Samaj, a backward class community, by his daughter’s elopement with a scheduled caste boy.