Mystery shrouds ‘suicide’ by young couple

NAGPUR: A young couple was found hanging from the ceiling fan at their home in mysterious circumstances at Bhaurao Nagar in Lakadganj on Thursday night. There are doubts about how they died since a sharp, bloodied blade was recovered from the inner garment of the deceased man, identified as Sonu Sheikh (24). Some blood was also found in the hair parting of the deceased girl Ritika Singh, where women usually apply vermilion or sindoor.
However, both of them did not have any cut on their person from where this blood could have come.There was no suicide note in the house.
The cops are investigating the case, which first appeared to be a suicide pact, from all possible angles. Though Sheikh’s relatives expressed the doubt that the duo was murdered, the cops refused to call it a murder immediately.
Cops have registered a case of accidental death on a compliant by Gauri (50), Ritika’s mother. Cops said the couple’s landlord Namdeo Wankhede peeped through a window and first saw the couple hanging. He had been alerted by Gauri since no one was answering the door. The landlord summoned the cops, who broke open the door, which was locked from inside,.
According to Gauri’s statement, Ritika, a school dropout, returned home with Sheikh, an autorickshaw driver, in the wee hours of Thursday. Later in the morning, Gauri did not wake them up while leaving for some work.
“Forensic experts too were summoned. We brought down the bodies and also recovered a syringe, which was probably used to inject drugs, two burned cigarettes, and water bottle from the bedroom,” said senior PI SB Mane. A thumb impression in blood was found on Ritika’s forehead, and one on a wall of the bedroom. There were no cuts on the bodies of the deceased.
The cops said they had got no information so far to indicate a love triangle, and they are probing the case from all angles.
Sheikh’s elder brother Julfekar, a resident of Subhan Nagar, Kalamna, told TOI, “Sheikh left our place on Wednesday evening. Later, I called him up several times but his number remained switched off.” Sources close to Sheikh said, “Ritika had been forcibly taken to Mumbai in the last week of January by her relatives, and returned on Monday. The couple enjoyed Valentine’s Day too.”
Cops said the couple was in a relationship from last one-and-a-half-years and their parents had accepted the match.