DU student abducted, murdered by boyfriend

New Delhi, February 7

A man was arrested for the suspected murder of his 20-year-old girlfriend after her burnt body was found at his house in Rajpura Gurmandi on Sunday.

The woman, identified only as Arzoo — a student of Delhi University's Laxmi Bai College — was abducted and murdered by her boyfriend and his family on February 2, two days before he married another woman, the victim’s family claimed.

“Arzoo went to college on February 2 like any other day. She usually returned home by 4–5 pm, but when she did not return that day, we approached police. They found her charred body stashed in an cupboard at Khatri's house on Saturday night and called us for identification,” the victim's elder sister, identified only as Paayal, said.

“Khatri and my sister wanted to get married… And, today we got the news that she was murdered. They were afraid that she would create a scene at the wedding and that's why they killed her,” she claimed.

 “The next morning, we went to her college where we came to know that she saw Khatri, who lives in our neighbourhood, even after their wedding couldn’t materialise,” Akanksha, the victim’s cousin, said.

“Khatri's family had said that they would not marry their son in the same village and community. But, her friends at the college told us that Arzoo would meet Khatri, and had gone with him, which created a suspicion and we informed the police,” she said.

Kavita, the victim’s mother, said: “Considering that she was late, I gave a call on her mobile phone, which responded switched off. One of her friends told us over phone that Arzoo could not disappear like this, and it is the work of Khatri. When I called Khatri, her sister responded badly. However, we got a call from Khatri's elder brother”.

“Khatri's brother offered us a compromise: you take care of our reputation and we will take care of yours,” she said, adding that he threatened her.

“I told him that we don't want anything from them except our daughter, but they killed her. If they were afraid Arzoo would disrupt the wedding, they should have told us and we would have ensured it went smoothly,” said the mother.

Police are currently investigating the role of Khatri’s family in the murder. — ANI