Couple killed in AP village, honour killing suspected

In a suspected case of honour killing, a couple was stoned to death by relatives of an upper caste girl who had eloped with a married man from another caste in Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad district, police said on Thursday.

"The girl's relatives attacked the couple, S Srinivas and Swapna, when they were sleeping outside their house in Krishna Jiwadi village at around 10.30 on Wednesday night. The couple was dragged on to the road and hit with boulders resulting in their instant death," Nizamabad Superintendent of Police K Venkateshwara Rao told PTI over phone.

Swapna, went missing from the village last year, after which her father lodged a missing complaint, the SP said, adding it was withdrawn following her return. She again went missing after staying in the village for about a month and returned only a week ago along with Srinivas, with whom she had stayed for the past nine months, the officer said.

Srinivas, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, was a married man with two children. "They (relatives) were reportedly angered over the girl having a relationship with a married man that too belonging to another caste," Rao said.

"It is still not clear whether Swapna and Srinivas had married and where they were staying for the past nine months," the SP said. "But since their return to the village a week ago, the duo was staying together in the village along with Srinivas's wife and child," Rao said. "We are still investigating as the incident (killing) was reported late last night. We have taken into custody one person and more arrests will be made soon," the SP said.

A case of double murder has been registered and an autopsy was conducted on the bodies of Srinivas and Swapna at a hospital in Kamareddy town, the police officer added.