Three youths who allegedly carried out the sensational honour killing of three of their relatives in Delhi on Sunday were on Thursday arrested at Garhmukteshwar area near Ghaziabad.
Mandeep Nagar, 23, Ankit Chaudhury, 22, and Nakul Khari, 21 were arrested from Garhmukteshwar, nearly 90 kms from Delhi, and a country made pistol was recovered from them, Senior Superintendent of Police Raghubir Lal said, adding that they have also seized a car.
The three were on the run after allegedly killing Ankit's sister Monica, 24, along with her husband Kuldeep, 26, for marrying in a different caste, and Mandeep's 22-year-old sister Shobha, who too had eloped with a man belonging to a different case.
The accused carried out the three murders on June 20, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal said in Lucknow.
"First they killed Shobha after asking her to meet them. They shot her in her car. Then they asked Kuldeep to meet them and killed him. Later his wife Monica was murdered at her home," he said.
The youths said that the villagers would insult them by pointing out that their sisters had married outside the caste and they could not take the humiliation, Lal said.
After the murders, the three escaped to Uttarakhand and were reportedly spotted at Dehradun, Rishikesh and Musoorie. The police received a tip off today about the trio being located in Garhmukteshwar, where they were arrested.
Lal said they were being taken to Ghaziabad and the Delhi police has been informed.
The police had on Wednesday announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 each for anyone providing information on them. The three were presented before the media by the police.
Earlier, the Delhi police took Mandeep's uncle Dharmaveer Nagar and friend Nitin, who allegedly gave provocative statements justifying the murders, into preventive custody.
"We have taken them into preventive custody under sections 107 (Security for keeping peace in the other cases) and 151 (arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offence) of the Cr PC," Deputy Commissioner of Police (north-west) N S Bundela said in Delhi.
This has been done to maintain peace as there were apprehensions that their statements might instigate others, another police official said.
"This (killing) is not at all wrong. What is wrong in it? Murder is wrong but this (killing) is socially the best thing that has been done. This cannot be termed as wrong," Nagar had said.
