When 22-year-old Samina, who belongs to a Banjara family in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, attended her sister Sania's wedding earlier this month, little did the latter know that 15 days later, Samina would be allegedly beaten to death by her in-laws.
Sania, who is Samina's older sister, married Shah Rukh on 4 June. The newlyweds then moved in with Shah Rukh's sister Hina and her husband Ramesh in Ghaziabad's Siddharth Vihar.
On 19 June, Hina and Ramesh invited Sania's entire family from Saharanpur to Ghaziabad to celebrate their son Sheku's birthday. Samina and Sania's cousin Mani arrived in Ghaziabad on Monday, unaware that their entire lives would be toppled in less than 24 hours.
On the intervening night of 20 and 21 June, Ramesh, Hina, and six others allegedly murdered Samina by beating her to death over allegations of theft.
Based on Sania's complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed under Section 147 (punishment for rioting), Section 302 (punishment for murder), Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Crossings Republic police station in Ghaziabad.
A Birthday Party, a Bracelet, and a Ring: The Recipe for Disaster
Sania's family had left for Saharanpur after attending the birthday party on 19 June. However, on 20 June, when Ramesh and Hina allegedly found their gold bracelet and ring missing, they immediately doubted Sania – who was the newest member of their family.
They interrogated and assaulted her until she gave up her sister's name in a bid to protect herself, police officials told The Quint.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rural Ghaziabad, Ravi Kumar, said on Thursday:
"Sania told her in-laws that maybe it was Samina, as she had seen Samina going upstairs on the day of the party."
When the suspicion turned to Samina, Ramesh and Hina called up the former, claiming that her sister Sania and brother-in-law Shah Rukh had met with an accident, and they should return to Ghaziabad immediately.
'Beaten To Death by Hard & Blunt Objects'
When Samina and her cousin Mani returned to Ghaziabad in the late hours of 20 June, along with their driver Rajvir, they were all interrogated and beaten by the eight accused – Ramesh, his wife Hina, Hina's sister Rukhsar, her husband Naushad, and their other relatives Himanshu, Majid, Eshan urf Zeeshan, and a minor.
DCP Kumar claimed that Samina was hit using a wooden stick, and prima facie, the injuries looked like that of being caused by hard and blunt objects. He added that they also found the wooden stick and Samina's bloodied clothes at the scene of the crime.
Police officers with the accused.
(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/The Quint)
After killing Samina, Hina's sister, Rukshar, allegedly removed her bloodied clothes and changed her into another set of clothes.
However, police officials told mediapersons on Thursday that no jewellery had been found so far. They added that it's also still not established if any jewellery was stolen in the first place.
In the FIR, Sania had alleged,
"On 20.06.2023, Ramesh and Hina realised that jewellery was missing from their cupboard. Under suspicion, the accused beat my sister Samina to death from 8 pm to 3 am the next morning. Samina's body is lying on the upper floor of Ramesh's house. I also have bruises on my body. After killing my sister, Rukhsar changed her clothes. My uncle's daughter Mani was also hit (by the accused) and has received injuries, as has the driver Rajvir."
Ghaziabad Police received a call at 9 am on 21 June from neighbours about 'noise' coming from Ramesh and Hina's house. Upon reaching there, the police found Samina dead and filed a complaint based on the allegations made by Sania.
All the eight accused escaped to Saharanpur. This is also where they were arrested by the Ghaziabad Police on 21 June.
Based on Sania's complaint, the FIR mentions that Sania, Mani, and their driver Rajvir also had bruises on their body. They've all undergone medical tests.
Shah Rukh is staying with the victim's family for now in Saharanpur.
DCP Kumar has clarified that as opposed to what is being alleged by media reports, there was no DJ playing while the alleged murder was taking place. He added that there's no communal motive to the murder as well.
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