To identify victims, police put up posters
Mutilated bodies of a couple were found in two trunks in Sonipat. (Source: Gajendra Yadav)
A day after the bodies of a young man and woman were found in separate trunks in Devi Lal Park on NH-1, police are yet to identify the victims. In a bid to make a headway in the case, they have put up posters with the deceased’s photographs in public places like cinema halls, markets, schools, colleges and dhabas along the highway.
Eight teams from Murthal police station have been sent to neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh, Outer Delhi’s Bawana, Narela and Alipur areas and districts of Punjab with the deceased’s photographs to check if they match with those in the recent missing cases filed in those areas. The photographs have also been shared on police WhatsApp groups and websites. Police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone who identifies the victims or gives leads to the accused.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sonipat) Bharati Dabas said: “This is a big case and it is a challenge for us to crack it. We believe somebody will come forward and identify the deceased because of the massive media coverage. The posters should throw up some clues,” she said.
Dabas seemed confused regarding the honour killing angle in the case as instances of such crimes in Haryana have drastically gone down in recent times.
“Mindsets have changed. Till a couple of years ago, couples who married within their caste or village and were hounded by furious relatives approached courts for protection and police put them in safehouses. Most safehouses are now empty and cases of honour killings are few,” she added.
Head constable Jitender said the state in which the bodies were found suggested that the murders were meticulously planned.
“We usually find bodies dumped in fields or on roads. But to find the bodies in brand new trunks, the man’s limbs hacked to fit his body into the trunk, red-and-white bangles of a newly-wed on the woman’s wrists—all these point to a group having meticulously planned and executed the double murder in such a way that the honour killing angle seems obvious. It could be angry parents or an irate spouse if it is a case of an extramarital affair,” he said.
Police suspect the murders were committed in Outer Delhi and the bodies dumped at Sonipat. “It is unlikely that the killers are from Haryana because then they would have dumped the bodies far from their permanent locations. The murders might have been committed in the Outer district of Delhi or districts on the Yamuna bank at Delhi-Haryana border. The murderers must have driven down the highway and dumped the trunks in the park,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Gannaur) Satish Kumar under whose jurisdiction Murthal police station falls.
“We are trying to trace the shop from where the trunks were bought. Fingerprints from the trunks have been sent to the forensics team. We have also contacted telecom companies for access to phone calls made after 12 am in the area where the bodies were dumped. However, we are primarily depending on identification of the victims to lead us to the murderers,” Kumar reiterated.
Source:: Indian Express
