New Delhi: A couple who had eloped last year in August to marry against their families' wishes was riddled with bullets by half-a-dozen men here in Dwarka's Amberhai village on Thursday evening, killing the 23-year-old man while severely injuring his 19-year-old wife, the Delhi Police has said.
After the incident, which involved around four to five persons, the man, identified as one Vinay Dahiya and his wife, Kiran Dahiya, were rushed to a nearby hospital where the former was declared brought dead on arrival while Kiran is under treatment. All the accused are absconding and while some of them have been identified, further probe is underway, police said.
The 23-year-old worked as a taxi driver at the IGI Airport and the couple had moved into the rented flat five days back.
Police have said the aspect of honour killing is also being probed and investigation in that regard is underway. As per police, at around 9 pm on Friday, they received a PCR call regarding the shooting of one boy and a girl at Amberhai village. After inquiry, it was allegedly revealed that both originally hailed from Gopalpur in Sonipat, Haryana.
During the incident, Vinay received four bullet wounds while Kiran sustained five gunshot injuries. "It was also revealed that Vinay and Kiran eloped and got married around one year ago against the wishes of their families," DCP(Dwarka) SK Meena said.
Significantly, the couple had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court last year seeking protection from the girl's family who allegedly threatened to kill them if they marry each other. Subsequently, the court disposed off the petition by asking the couple to approach Sonipat Police for protection.
Advocate Abhimanyu Kalsy, who moved the plea on behalf of the couple, said, "They approached me claiming that Kiran's family was not allowing them to get married and were giving them death threats…"
Kalsy claimed no protection was provided to them and in fact an FIR was lodged by the girl's family alleging her abduction where Vinay was later roped in. "The family distorted the girl's age when she was already 18...I later moved a plea seeking quashing of the FIR which was subsequently done but no police assistance was provided to them," he told Millennium Post.
Meanwhile, Vinay's family claimed that they were against the marriage but could not kill the couple. "He left our home and got married in August and since then I have had no contact with him. Even we were against the wedding but we couldn't plan their murder…," his father Om Prakash said.
He added that the girl's family was into the liquor business and held clout in their village and that there he has an apprehension that the family might harm him too.