Returning with wife after UP police exam, man shot dead by bro-in-law

Meerut: A 27-year-old man who had accompanied his wife, 25, to a UP Police recruitment examination centre was allegedly shot dead by his brother-in-law in Saharanpur on Tuesday, in what police suspect to be a fallout of the couple’s love marriage.The victim, Shiv Kumar, of Shamli’s Khedi Bairagi village had arrived at Gochar Inter College in Rampur Maniharan to drop Akanksha in the morning. The shooting took place shortly after the examination concluded and the couple was heading home in a car along with Kumar’s cousin brother.According to Akanksha, she and Kumar belong to the same caste but had married against their families’ wishes around four months ago. Since then, they had been facing threats from her relatives. Recounting the incident to police, Akanksha alleged that her brother Manjeet and maternal uncle arrived near the examination centre as she and her husband were preparing to leave.“My brother asked me to return home with him. I refused because I had chosen to live with my husband. He tried to force me out of the car. When Shiv objected, an argument broke out and they left,” she told cops, adding that Manjeet followed them and when their car stopped due to traffic about a km away from the exam centre, he fired at her husband from a country-made pistol at point-blank range.The accused then fled with his uncle. Kumar was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.SP city Vyom Bindal said, “Based on the complaint by the victim’s family, a case is being registered under relevant sections. Multiple police teams have been formed to arrest the accused and his accomplice.”Kumar, who held postgraduate and law degrees, had recently received an appointment letter for a position in the security forces under central govt, though he was yet to join the service, his family members said.