HYDERABAD: A man killed his sister on Sunday morning for 'undermining' the family honour by approaching the village sarpanch for amicable settlement of her love affair.

D Jyothi, 20, a resident of Ghanpur in Patancheru, had fallen in love with one Janardhan of the same village. However, her family members were against their affair and warned her to stay away from Janardhan.

However, Jyothi approached the Ghanpur sarpanch on June 13. "The sarpanch summoned the family members of both Jyothi and Janardhan to settle the matter amicably. Janardhan agreed that he was in love with Jyothi and expressed his wish to marry her.

But the members of her family, especially her brother Yellappa, bitterly opposed the proposal. As a result, the issue could not be settled," Patancheru inspector of police E Chandrasekhar Goud said.

Enraged that his sister took the issue to the village head, Yellappa publicly threatened to kill her.

Fearing for the safety of his daughter, her mother took Jyothi to her relative's place in Patancheru.

On June 14, a relative of Jyothi passed away and on the pretext of attending the rituals, Yellappa forced Jyothi and his mother to come home.

As the rituals were over on June 14 evening, the family returned to their home in Ghanpur.

Yellappa and his wife slept in a room, while Jyothi along with her mother and two sisters slept in another room.
"At 5.30 am, Yellappa dragged Jyothi out of the house. Pushed away his mother and sisters, who tried to stop him, and repeatedly hit Jyothi on the head with a pestle, killing her on the spot," Chandrasekhar Goud said.

Based on a complaint lodged by the victim's family, police registered a case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was taken into custody.

For original text see: