TNN | Mar 30, 2013, 02.02 AM IST

ROHTAK: In a case of honour killing, a retired Army man allegedly strangulated his married daughter to death in Sherla village of Bhiwani district on Thursday, for tying the knot against his wishes.

The family cremated the body without informing the police in an attempt to destroy the evidence. The police, however, rushed to the village late Thursday after getting tipped off by some villager and started investigation. The police also contacted the victim’s husband, who lodged a complaint suspecting that she had been killed by her father.

The police registered a case under Section 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) against Satpal, the accused father, and arrested him on Friday. According to police, the victim, identified as Shashi Rani, 21, was a student of BA final year in Hisar. She was having an affair with a youth Gautam Singh Khapadwas, 23, from a village in Bhiwani, who was also a student in the same college.

Police officers said the victim approached her family revealing about their relationship and expressed willingness to her. Though both did belonged to different castes, her father still objected to it and rejected the marriage proposal.

However, they eloped from their houses on February 28 and tied the knot at an Arya Samaj temple in Bahadurgarh of Jhajjar district the same day. The couple started living at a rented accommodation in Hisar after the marriage. However, the victim’s husband alleged that her father took her back to their village about a week back on the pretext that they had accepted the marriage.

Behal police SHO Ashok Sharma informed TOI that police rushed to the cremation ground on Thursday evening after some village informed about unnatural death of a young woman. The deceased’s father stated that she had died of electrocution during ironing clothes but failed to provide convincing replies to police questioning and finally confessed to have killed her on Thursday.