Dad Rapes Daughter Beside Infant Grandson’s Dead Body, Strangles Her To Death: Police

A 55-year-old man in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh raped his daughter and strangled her to death after she went against her family's wishes and married a man who belonged to a different caste, police said.

The 24-year-old victim was taken by her father and brother to Kathotia forest on Nov. 5 under the pretext of burying and conducting the last rites for her deceased 5-month-old son, who died of pneumonia the day before, The Times of India reported. The names of the victim and her family members were not disclosed in the report.

The father, however, conspired with his son to murder the victim because the two were angry she married a youth of a different caste following a love affair, Ratibad police station house officer Sudhesh Tiwari said.

The father raped his daughter beside her son's dead body and strangled her to death — all while her 25-year-old brother stood on the road to keep an eye on passers-by. The father and son then returned home and revealed the incident to the family's eldest daughter, who kept quiet as she was "terrified," according to the report.

Forest officers found the victim Sunday with her son lying next to her. Circumstantial evidence suggested the woman was sexually assaulted and murdered as her innerwear was found lying around the bodies, which were badly decomposed and seemed 10 to 12 days old, Tiwari said.

The bodies were sent to Hamidia hospital for post-mortem, and police registered a rape as well as a murder case within 24 hours of the discovery.

Authorities reportedly matched the details of the woman with missing person complaints received at various police stations in city of Bhopal and its surrounding districts. Additionally, photographs of the body were circulated on social media platforms, and the informer network was activated.

Police later received a tip regarding a missing newlywed woman from the neighboring Bilkisganj area in Sehore whose details matched with those of the discovered body.

Authorities discovered that the missing woman left for her elder sister's Ratibad home on Oct. 21 following a petty dispute with her husband. They also found out that the landlord of the missing woman's elder sister had filed a police complaint alleging that the woman's husband threatened him over the phone while asking him questions regarding his wife and son.

Police contacted the woman's elder sister, who identified the body as her sibling and revealed her other family members’ actions.

The victim’s father and brother were later arrested in their home in Bilkisganj. They initially attempted to mislead police but later confessed to their crime.

The father and son were charged with murder, rape and hatching a criminal conspiracy, Tiwari said.

Further investigations into the incident are ongoing.