A wedding,two funerals,a rogue policeman and a runaway bride

As the family rushed in,they found Sandeep and his mother Roshni Devi dead with bullet wounds while a critically wounded Parkashi — Sandeep’s aunt — was pleading for help. Sandeep’s three-day-old bride Sarita was nowhere to be found.

Sarita,it seems,had left the house,after having collected some jewellery and Rs 50,000 in cash,with her “lover” Basant — a suspended constable with the Chandigarh Police. Following the incident,Basant was held responsible for the mayhem in Dayanand’s house and life.

More than a month-and-a-half later,the Haryana and Chandigarh Police are yet to trace Basant (21) and Sarita even after announcing Rs 1 lakh cash rewards each for information that could lead to their arrests.

Dayanand and his family members,including sons Rishi and Pradeep and daughter Anju,now curse the day they agreed to get Sandeep married to Sarita. “Ajit,a Sonepat resident known to us,approached us on April 5 with the marriage proposal for his niece Sarita. He claimed to have raised Sarita since she was two. We were never told that she eloped with Basant in February,” said Sandeep’s sister Anju,who works in the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch.

She added: “The wedding took place on April 15 and we brought the bride to our place. Our relatives were here and the post-marriage celebrations were on. On the afternoon of April 18,Basant and his friend came to our place and Basant introduced himself as Sarita’s cousin. He entered our house,took out a gun and shot Sandeep and my mother,who were sleeping. The two had been drugged by Sarita who had given them something laced with an intoxicant.”

Dayanand recalls the day: “I was moving out of my house,when two boys asked me about Sandeep. I thought that they may be Sarita’s relatives,as she had told us,a day earlier,that she would like to visit her mother once. After giving them directions,I left. I had not gone far when I heard the gunshots. By the time I rushed back,they had escaped. I rushed my son,wife and sister to the hospital but only my sister survived.”

“I cannot and will never get over the horrific moment when I could do nothing. My entire family has been ruined because of this marriage. Even the police have failed to help. Sarita is the main culprit. She called her lover,drugged my son and wife and then got them killed,” Dayanand added.

The police forces of Haryana and Chandigarh,meanwhile,stated that the cellphones of Basant and Sarita have been put under surveillance and that their last location was traced near Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. “We are developing inputs on their movements and will catch them soon. The duo have not contacted their family or friends,” said Sonepat SP Arun Nehra.

Both Basant and Sarita belong to same gotra and are from the Jat community. They had been residing in Gorad village for many years. Both entered into a relationship about an year ago and decided to get married and had eloped in February.

According to Basant’s family,both had got married at an Arya Samaj temple in Ambala.

Their families,however,traced them to Chandigarh and separated them. “We have their marriage certificate’s copy. But Basant is responsible for what has happened and must pay the price for committing such an inhumane act,” said Jagbir,Basant’s uncle.