Man, girl found dead in Bihar; honour killing suspected

In a suspected case of honour killing, a young man and a minor girl were beaten to death and their bodies found hanging from a ceiling fan in Bihar's Jehanabad district, police said today.

Superintendent of Police, Jehanabad, Manish Kumar, who visited the spot, said there were injury marks on the bodies of the 16-year-old girl and the 19-year-old man which suggested that they had been beaten to death before being hanged from a ceiling fan inside the girl's house at Ghosi village to make the incident appear like a suicide.

The SP said an FIR was lodged by the man's uncle in which he named nine persons, apart from accusing 15 other unnamed ones of plotting the "murder".

The girl's father and brother were not named in the FIR, but some of her other relatives were among the named accused and raids were being conducted for their arrest, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the bodies have been sent for postmortem and efforts were being made to record statements of the girl's family members.

Asked about whether the police saw it as a case of honour killing, the SP said a conclusion could be arrived at only after investigations were complete.