Parents arrested after woman’s body found in suitcase at expressway in India

Victim shot dead allegedly by father at her home in national capital

The parents of an Indian woman who died in a case of suspected honour killing were arrested in Uttar Pradesh state’s Mathura city on Monday night.

The body of Ayushi Yadav, 21, was found inside a red trolley bag on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura on 18 November.

Honour killings are murders usually carried out by family members of any individual who is perceived to have brought shame upon the family.

Police on Monday said the woman was killed as she had married a man of her own choice, against the wishes of her parents.

“The victim’s father Nitesh Yadav and mother Brajbala Yadav have been arrested and sent to jail,” acting senior superintendent of police Martand Prakash Singh said in a statement to news agency Press Trust of India.

The accused have been charged under two sections of India’s criminal code, known as the Indian Penal Code.

The sections they have been charged under include 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information, to screen the offender), said Mr Singh.

“Brajbala Yadav may not have shot her daughter, but she was involved in disposing of the body and had accompanied her husband to Mathura in a car,” he added.

The victim was shot dead allegedly by her father at their house in national capital New Delhi’s Badarpur area on 17 November.

The victim’s brother was also aware of the killing, authorities said.

Police said the victim’s father confessed to shooting his daughter dead at their residence in Modband village.

He also packed her body in the trolley bag on the same night and left it on the Yamuna Expressway.

After police found the trolley bag containing the victim’s body, they traced phones and surveillance camera footage to identify her.

An unknown caller provided a tip identifying the victim as Ayushi. Later, her mother and brother identified her through photographs.

Police said they have also recovered the licensed gun used in the killing.