Man held after his ‘lover’ from Doon kills self in custody of UP police

A day after a Dalit woman from Dehradun allegedly committed suicide in custody of Uttar Pradesh police, a 26-year-old Muslim man with whom she allegedly ran away from home was arrested and booked for abduction and abetment to suicide.

The man, identified as Javed from Najibabad in Bijnor district, was arrested from his home town on Tuesday and presented before a local court on Wednesday that sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

The woman, identified as Soni Kumar from Dehradun’s Raipur area, went missing from her home on May 25 after which her family lodged a missing complaint in Raipur police station.

Later, it was found that she had ran away with Javed with whom she was allegedly in a relationship without knowledge of her family.

The couple was traced by Uttar Pradesh police on Monday in Najibabad. Police kept the woman in police barrack with a female constable till arrival of a team from Dehradun police. However, Soni Kumar was found hanging from a ceiling fan inside the police barrack on Tuesday morning in a suspected case of suicide.

“After the suicide, Javed was booked for abducting her and abetting her to commit suicide under sections of IPC,” station house officer, Najibabad, Devendra Singh told HT over phone.

“He was also booked under sections of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989,” Singh said, adding that during the interrogation, Javed confessed to have lured Soni to run away with him.

Javed, who had no criminal record in Najibabad, told police that he was helped by one of his friends living in Dehradun to run away with Soni.

On Wednesday morning, Soni was cremated in Haridwar. Her body was handed over to her father Rakesh Kumar on Tuesday.

“We want strict action against Javed and justice for our daughter. Police have assured us of action and investigation in the case. We are yet to get the post-mortem examination report,” Rakesh Kumar told HT.

On Tuesday, Soni’s family members along with 150 residents gheraoed Raipur police station and demanded a CBI investigation into the case. They also blocked a nearby road for a couple of hours.

Circle officer Dalanwalla Jaya Baluni told HT: “In the initial investigations, it was found that Soni was a graduate and used to stay at home in Raipur while Javed used to work in a garage here.”

“They came in contact through a common friend who used live in Soni’s neighbourhood. Now, the investigation would be done by Najibabad police as she committed suicide there,” said Baluni.