In a bizarre incident, a couple slashed each other’s throats with a blade at the famous Taj Nature Park in Agra, just a few meters away from the monument of love, Taj Mahal.

A resident of Karbala in Agra, Shabnam Ali was in love with a Hindu boy, Rajveer Singh, 25. The boy is from Dehradun and came all the way to meet the girl yesterday evening.

According to the visitors, the couple chatted for a while and were sitting in the park when guards noticed them in a pool of blood. Witnesses said their condition was serious but instead of admitting them immediately, the forest officials inquired about them for long, after which their condition became even more critical. They were later rushed to the SN Medical College Hospital.

Barely able to speak, Rajveer told additional city magistrate MP Singh the reason for taking this extreme step. He said, “Both Shabnam and I tried hard to convince our parents that they should allow us to get married, but the boundaries of religion remained the biggest hurdle. We did this after failing at all possible ways to be together. We couldn’t get our respective parents to meet each other, even getting spiritual leaders and relatives to intervene didn’t help.”

However, Shabnam’s relatives had a different story to tell. They said they were ready for marriage but not at this time because ‘Rajveer is unemployed’, a version which Rajveer refused to accept.

The police, however, are planning to file murder charges against both boy and girl.