A man and his family in Uttar Pradesh are facing murder charges for allegedly killing his wife over a dowry dispute and attempting to stage it as a suicide, sparking a police investigation.
Police have registered a case against a man and four of his family members for allegedly murdering his 32-year-old and hanging her body to make it appear as a suicide in the Bairia area here, an officer said on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Sonam Singh, 32.
According to police, the case was registered on Thursday at Bairia Police Station on the complaint of Manju Devi, a resident of Maharajpur village in the Sahatwar area, who is the mother of the victim.
In her complaint, Manju Devi alleged that her daughter was married to Markandey Singh of Sonbarsa village on December 11, 2023. On March 4, her husband and in-laws allegedly murdered her over a dowry demand of Rs 20 lakh and later hanged the body to portray it as suicide.
Based on the complaint, a named case was registered against Markandey Singh, his father Anil Singh, mother Devanti Singh, brother Piyush Singh, and sister-in-law Mani Singh, under sections 85 (cruelty to woman) and 89 (2) (miscarriage without woman's consent) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Dowry Prohibition Act.
SHO of Bairia Police Station Rajendra Prasad Singh said the post-mortem report revealed that the death was due to hanging. Efforts are on to arrest all the accused, he added.