Bhiwani, Haryana, Apr 20 : An accomplice of prime accused Naresh, who allegedly battered to death two widows including his aunt in this district, was arrested by police on Tuesday.
Subhash alias Tinku, accomplice of rape convict Naresh, who is out on parole, had been arrested, SP (Bhiwani) Ashwin Shainvi, told reporters here.
Naresh who allegedly lynched his aunt Shakuntala, aged 40, and 33-year-old Suman, another widow, in Ranila village on the intervening night of Sunday-Monday was arrested yesterday.
"Subhash was arrested today on charges of hatching and executing the plan to murder the two women," the SP said.
Subhash's brother Sudhir was allegedly having illicit relations with Suman and the two accused had strongly objected to this, the police officer said.
Both Naresh and Subhash had told the couple to stop their "immoral activity which will have negative impact on the youth of the village", according to the SP.
But Sudhir and Suman continued their relations which had angered both Naresh and Subhash.
On Sunday night, Naresh sternly told Suman to mend her ways resutling in heated exchanges, the SP said.
Later, Naresh allegedly beat up Suman mercilessly with a cane. She died at the scene. He then went to his aunt's house, dragged her out and battered her to death.
After committing the crime, he dumped the bodies in Suman's house, the SP said.
Asked to comment on the incident, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said "such incidents do happen but are unfortunate. Overall, the law and order situation in the state is much better."
Naresh Kumar, a 23-year-old man of Ranila village who was recently released on parole while serving a 7-year jail term on charge of rape, murdered two widows on
Sunday night in front of several hundred villagers.
One of the victims, 35-year-old Shakuntali was Naresh's aunt, while the other victim 34-year-old Suman was her neighbour.
Shakuntala has a 15-year-old son while Suman has an eight-year-old daughter.
Police said, Naresh dragged both the women out on ther road and in the presence of several hundred villagers lynched them with lathis and heavy weapons, killing both
of them on the spot. He then marched to the local police station and surrendered saying that he did this to protect what he called his 'family honour'.
According to witnesses, when Suman, the mother of an 8-year-old girl, told Kumar to back off and not interfere, the young man flew into a rage, dragged her out of her
house and started battering the woman with a lathi.
The slanging match that preceded the violence, that happened around 8pm, had attracted a motley crowd of residents from the village of about 7,000 people, but none
lifted a finger to stop the man, witnesses said.
Although most villagers in the prosperous belt of Haryana carry one or even two cellphones, nobody called the police. The police appeared on the scene several hours
after both the victims died.
As Suman fell dead, Kumar, who is serving a jail term for rape and is out on parole, rushed to the house of his 35-year-old aunt Shakuntala, dragged her out and
started beating her mercilessly. It wasn`t known if Shakuntala`s 15-year-old son was a witness to his mother`s killing.
On hearing her screams, people from nearby houses rushed out but once again nobody tried to stop the murder and allowed Naresh Kumar to thrash his aunt until she too
fell dead.
According to the police, Naresh Kumar went to the police after the murders and surrendered, saying he had killed the two women to save his family`s honour. PTI
