Lucknow: The 23-year-old Dalit woman, whose body was found inside a sack in Uttar Pradesh’s Karhal, had died of strangulation, ThePrint has learnt.
Station House Officer (SHO), Karhal, Lalit Bhati said that the post mortem revealed that the cause of death was strangulation but added that the report has ruled out injuries on private parts.
The victim’s father had alleged that she was gangraped and that her body was dumped under a bridge. Her family had said that the two arrested accused, Prashant Yadav and Mohan Katheria, had allegedly given sedatives to the woman and murdered Tuesday for voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Even Karhal BJP candidate Anujesh Yadav has alleged that the Dalit woman was killed because she had been voting for the BJP. Voting in Karhal took place Wednesday.
The body was recovered from inside a sack from under a bridge over the Kanjra river in the wee hours on Wednesday. Yadav and Katheria were arrested after a complaint was registered by the woman’s father.
According to the woman’s family members, around 12 pm Tuesday, Yadav, who is known to the family, accompanied the woman to his office on his bike and later drove to a hospital where Mohan had been working.
“The trio drank alcohol and they mixed sedatives in my daughter’s drink. Since then, we have no information about my daughter. When our daughter did not return home, my son went to Prashant’s house and checked his office where my daughter’s chappals had been lying,” the woman’s father has written in the FIR lodged against Yadav and Katheria under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 123 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc), 70 (1) (gangrape), 103 (1) (murder) and 3 (2) (v) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“When we had been searching for her, we met Prashant and Mohan on our way when I asked them where my daughter was and they refused to say anything. When I confronted him saying that my daughter’s chappals had been lying in his office, he called up his wife and told her to remove the chappals from his office. When I and my son went to the office, his wife had removed the chappals.”
The father said that Yadav would frequent his house and around 12 pm on Wednesday, he took his daughter with him on his bike.
“Three days back, my daughter told Prashant that she will vote for lotus (the BJP symbol), he said no and that she should vote for cycle (the Samajwadi Party symbol). My daughter said that she would vote for BJP as it had constructed houses (in her area).. They had an argument. Since yesterday, she went missing. Our leader Bablu called Prashant and questioned about the whereabouts of my daughter. He said that he didn’t know anything,” he wrote in the FIR.
The distraught father told ThePrint that the family continued to search for his daughter the entire day and night but around 4-5 am on Wednesday, some labourers spotted a sack lying under the Kanjra river bridge.
He alleged that his daughter was gangraped and dumped under the bridge by the accused.
“The labourers informed us that they spotted at least four persons arriving in a Bolero. They dumped the sack under the bridge. We handed over Prashant and Mohan to the police late Wednesday. The police have not arrested the other accused,” he said, adding that the woman has an injury on her neck.
Superintendent of Police, Mainpuri, Vinod Kumar said in a statement that the two accused whom the family had raised fingers at were arrested Wednesday night.
“The woman’s parents have given a statement that the murder has been orchestrated because they voted for the BJP, a point which is being included in the investigation and action is being taken,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amit Malviya, head of the BJP IT cell, alleged that the handwork of the goons with red caps had come before everyone once again. “The red capped goons of Akhilesh Yadav who raises slogan of PDA (pichchde, Dalit, alpsankhyak) have resorted to brutal murder of a Dalit daughter. Akhilesh Yadav should keep the goons of his party in control else law and administration will anyways take care (sic),” he wrote on social media platform ‘X’.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Madrasas in UP aren’t asking for govt recognition—they’re trying to lose it. Here’s why
