Young couple found hanging from tree

LUCKNOW: Bodies of a boy and girl aged about 20 and 19 years respectively were found suspended from a tree in a Mohanlalganj village on Sunday morning. Ruling out honour killings after preliminary inquiries, police said the two decided to end life after facing stiff resistance from their families against their relationship.
Kuldeep Rawat and Priti Lodhi stayed in Gadhi village at Parwar Paschim area.The two stepped out of their homes on Saturday evening under some pretext and went untraceable thereafter. Around 7am on Sunday, people out to answer nature’s call spotted corpses of the couple suspended next to each other from a Jamun tree near a farm house. While a stole was found around Kuldeep’s neck, Priti was found suspended with her salwar.
Hundreds of villagers gathered around the Jamun tree as the news spread. Police officials also rushed to the spot on learning about the incident, fearing a Baduan-like situation. With the help of villagers, bodies was brought down around 8am and taken to local community health centre. The bodies were subsequently sealed then and sent for postmortem examination.
Police said the two had been in a relationship for many years. Priti’s parents had fixed her marriage with a youth from Nagram and a pre-nuptial ceremony took place on January 18. “The girl’s family was against the relationship apparently due to caste factor,” said a police officer. The wedding was to take place on March 3.
The village Pradhan Anil Kumar Yadav said that around 7pm on Saturday, the girl’s father Harishchandra reported Priti’s disappearance. A manhunt was launched but she could not be traced and her mobile phone was also found switched off. Meanwhile, Kuldeep also left home by 7.30pm under the pretext of watering a friend’s agricultural fields. Kuldeep’s father Raamlal is a vegetable vendor. The two grew close to each other from school days. The couple had been upset lately after Priti’s wedding got fixed.
“The postmortem report also states that the two have committed suicide. No complaint had been submitted before us so far. As a precautionary measure, a few policemen have been deployed in the village nonetheless,” said Mohanlalganj circle officer Rakesh Kumar Nayak.