Soni Chauhan (left) and her father Vijendra Chauhan Soni Chauhan (left) and her father Vijendra Chauhan

An 18-year-old girl was allegedly strangled by her father, who took exception to her talking to a boy over the phone, in Sadarpur village on Friday night. Police have arrested the accused, Vijendra Chauhan (50), and registered a case against him under IPC Section 302 (murder) . The girl has been identified as Soni Chauhan, a student of Class XII. According to police, Soni’s father allegedly got angry after he “heard her talking to a boy” over the phone and strangled her with the dupatta she was wearing.

Police said Chauhan made a PCR call after allegedly committing the crime. A police officer said, “We received the call at 10.30 pm. We had some trouble locating the house. The man and his son were waiting for us to arrive. The man took us to the girl’s room, where we found her lying on the bed. She was wearing a salwar-kurta and her dupatta was wrapped around her neck.”

“The accused told us that he suspected his daughter was in love with someone, as she used to talk to a boy over the phone,” the officer said. The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was declared brought dead. The body has been sent for a post-mortem and the report is awaited, the officer said. Police said the girl’s brother and his wife were in another room when the incident took place. While no charges have been pressed against them, police are still “investigating all angles”.

According to the police, the girl’s mother had died in September 2015 after a brief illness. Neighbours said they hardly spotted the girl as she was mostly at home. “Ever since her mother died, she mostly kept to herself,” a neighbour, who did not wished to be named, said.

Police said the girl’s father owned a sprawling house in the village, spread over two acres, from which he got more than Rs 50,000 as rent. He also owned several properties in the village and other areas of Noida. The girl’s brother is pursuing a business management course from a Noida college, police said.

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