india

Updated: Sep 16, 2019 07:14 IST

A couple was shot dead outside their house in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district on Sunday morning with the police charging the woman’s relatives for the alleged hate crime and murder.

Amanpreet Kaur, 23 and Amandeep Singh, 24, fell in love and married in August 2018 but Kaur’s family did not accept the match, police said. The couple stayed at Naushehra Dhala village, 40km from Tarn Taran, and near the India-Pakistan border.

The couple was returning home after praying at the local gurdwara near Chabhal town on Sunday morning, when three relatives of Kaur allegedly forced the couple into their car at about a kilometre away from their village, police said.

“About 8.30am, I heard gunshots outside my home. I rushed out to see my son and his wife, lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I also saw a Maruti Suzuki Swift car leaving the spot,” said Sukhdev Singh, 55, Singh’s father.

“My son died on the spot, while my daughter-in-law was rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared her dead,” he added.

Tarn Taran deputy superintendent of police (city) Kawaljit Singh said, “Preliminary investigation shows the couple was hacked and then shot. We have booked ten people, including four by name, who are relatives of the dead woman.” Kaur’s parents -- Amarjit Singh and Gurjit Kaur -- were taken into custody for questioning. “The couple was killed by my nephews (brother’s sons) and their accomplices, even as we had accepted the love marriage,” said Amarjit Singh. The DSP added, “As of now, we have found no link of Amanpreet’s parents to the killings.”