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Updated: May 07, 2019 01:20 IST

The Ahmednagar Police is looking for a man who, in a horrific hate crime, allegedly killed his daughter and grievously injured his son-in-law by setting them on fire to condemn their inter-caste marriage. He was helped by his brothers who have been arrested.

According to the police, the incident took place at Nighoj village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district on May 1. The father, a daily wage labourer, took the extreme step of dousing the couple with kerosene with the help of his two brothers. He and his relatives were vehemently opposed to the inter-caste marriage which took place around six months back, police said.

The couple was identified by the police as Mangesh Ransingh (23) and wife Rukmini (19) while the accused were identified as Rama Bhartiya (who is absconding) and his brothers, Surendra Bhartiya and Ghanshyam Saroj.

A case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempted murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been lodged at Parner Police Station in the district.

While Ransingh, a daily-wager himself, belongs to the Lohar caste, and Rukmini, a maid, the Pasi caste, assistant police inspector Vijay Kumar Botre, the investigation officer in the case, said.

According to Botre, the incident took place at the father’s residence. Ransingh came to take Rukmini home. She had come to her father’s place after a minor altercation took place between the couple.

“A heated argument broke out between him and the relatives after which the accused poured kerosene over Mangesh and Rukmini and set them on fire. Both maternal and paternal relatives of Rukmini were dead against the marriage as it was outside their caste,” the assistant police inspector said.

The cries of the couple in an attached room caught the attention of neighbours who doused the flames and took them to the hospital. The police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the father.

Rukmini breathed her last at Sassoon Hospital, Pune. The husband has sustained 40% injuries and is struggling, police said.

Rukmini has named her father and two uncles as the murderers in her dying declaration, according to the police.