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MEERUT: In a suspected honour killing case, 19-year-old Tina Chaudhary , a student of class XII, was shot and killed in Sardhana area of Meerut on Saturday night. Police got to know of the gruesome crime when the family brought the girl at a local hospital where she was declared dead. The family initially tried to mislead the cops by claiming it to be an "armed robbery and murder " and also tried to clean up blood stains, police said.

According to the postmortem report, the victim sustained three bullet injuries -- one on an inner thigh, second in her private part and third in her back at a point just above her waist.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, police lodged an FIR against the girl’s cousin, who is said to be the main accused, his parents as well as the girl’s own parents who were present at the crime scene under relevant sections of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence at Sardhana police station.

“There were a lot of blood stains at the spot and someone had tried to clean them off. Broken bangles were also recovered from the spot which suggested resistance from the victim,” Avinash Pandey, superintendent of police (rural areas), said.

“The body had become completely pale suggesting she was dead at least 5-6 hours before police were finally alerted about the incident,” Pandey said.

Besides, conflicting statements by family made the police suspicious. After the family members resisted police’s move to send the body for a postmortem, many of them were taken into custody.

According to police, the victim was in a relationship with a youth which led to several confrontations in the family. The girl’s cousin allegedly shot her thrice in one such confrontation on Saturday night.

Her brother told police that his cousin, Kittu alias Prashant Chaudhary shot and killed Tina in a fit of rage in an inebriated state. "Kittu, his friend Salman and I got drunk at a friend’s birthday party on Saturday night. We were already aware about her affair and she was continuing it against everyone’s will. Kittu shot Tina in the presence of all the family members,” he told police.

The main accused and his friend Salman are absconding while four family members have been arrested, police said.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

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