Idolised by younger brother, wanted to be a lawyer: Kin of girl stabbed, bludgeoned to death

At the crematorium, the mother, a worker at a steel factory, said, “We did not know anything about Sahil (the accused). She never mentioned his name to me or her father…she was living with her friend for the past 15 days and was hardly in touch with us…”

Recalling an incident in which the teenager may have fleetingly referred to Sahil, the mother said, “Once she told me that if I need to get my my fridge or AC repaired, I should tell her as she knew a guy who did the same…I found it a bit odd but ignored it then… if I had found out about her relationship, I would have cautioned her and she would have been alive.”

Minutes after lighting the funeral pyre of his daughter, the girl’s father said, “Had we known that the accused was planning to harm my daughter, I would have asked her to come home on Sunday…I always thought that my daughter was self-sufficient, which is why I always allowed her to go out.”

“My 12-year-old son used to look up to his sister as she wanted to be our financial backbone…” the mother said.

Guddu Gautam, a neighbour, said, “She had a very jolly nature. She liked being out and about…we never knew anything about Sahil.”