Ranchi, April 6 A man, angered by his 13-year-old sister for maintaining contact with his brother-in-law via social media, allegedly strangled her to death in Jharkhand, a senior police officer said on Monday.
Police arrested the 29-year-old accused and his father in connection with the case, Ranchi Rural SP Praveen Pushkar said in a press conference.
The incident occurred at Jhakhratand village under the Ratu police station limits on March 13 and came to light on April 2 after villagers alerted the police upon seeing some post-death rituals being performed at the house, he said.
“We arrested the father, Subodh Pathak, and his son, Rahul. During interrogation, the father said that the girl had been in contact via social media platforms with his son’s brother-in-law, which greatly upset the accused. On March 13, an argument between his daughter and son escalated, and Rahul strangled her to death,” Pushkar said.
Following the incident, the father called a doctor he knew. The physician confirmed that the girl had died and advised the family to cremate her body. After this, they hired an ambulance and took the body to Gaya in Bihar and cremated her there, the SP said.
He said that Subodh Pathak adopted the girl from Bihar’s Aurangabad district when she was 5 years old.
The police officer said that the adoption took place after Subodh Pathak's biological daughter eloped with someone, and Rahul did not like his adoptive sister from the very beginning. Even the girl's food was cooked in a separate oven.
As part of the investigation, a police team was sent to Aurangabad to contact the victim’s biological parents. Upon reaching there, the victim’s father said that he had given his daughter to Subodh Pathak after his wife’s death, as he is handicapped and was unable to look after her, Pushkar added.
The police recorded the statement of the ambulance driver and are conducting raids to nab the doctor.
Rahul's wife was not present on the day of the incident.
Both the accused are now in judicial custody.