india

Updated: Mar 14, 2016 10:07 IST

In a suspected honour killing, family members of a high-caste Hindu girl sent hired killers to murder her husband, a Dalit, in Tirupur on Sunday.

A gang of unidentified men, armed with hatchets and sickles, rode into Udumalaipettai town in Tirupur district, waylaid Shankar, 22, and hacked him to death in broad daylight. The youth died en route to hospital.

His wife Kausalya, who was with him at the time of the incident, was critically injured and admitted to the ICU later.

In a statement to the police, she blamed her family members for her husband’s death and told the police that she had complained about the threat from her family earlier.

The couple fell in love while studying at an engineering college in Palani and got married around eight months ago. However, the girl’s family tried to take her away even when she told the police that she had married the man of her own free will.

An eyewitness said few people who tried to help the couple were also attacked.

Police said all checkposts in and around Udumalaipettai were alerted for a lookout against the killers.