5 of family killed for refusing to wed minor daughter to married man

Jamshedpur: A family of five was killed in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district allegedly as they refused to marry off their minor daughter to a married man from an influential family. The incident which happened on March 14 came to light after their decomposed bodies were recovered from forests near the family’s home.

Ram Singh Sirka (45), his wife Panu Kui, daughter Rambha (17) and sons Kande (12) and Sonya (8) were hacked to death on March 14, Additional Superintendent of Police (Kiriburu), Tauqir Alam, said.

Nine people have been named in the complaint and police said that four of the accused belong to an influential family of the region. One of the accused has been arrested and police is suspecting that others may have fled from the state.

Ram Singh Sirka's decomposed body was found from a forest, about 3 km away from his home at Tulasai village under Gua police station area, on March 27, while bodies of the other four were recovered from another jungle around 5 km away.

According to the police, one of the accused wanted to marry Rambha but her father (Ram Singh Sirka) did not accept this as the man was already married. Angry at the refusal, they killed Sirka's family members with rods and sharp weapons when he was not at home.

They dumped the bodies in the forest and waited for Sirka to return home. When he did, they killed him too and dumped his body in other forest.

"We have information that eight of the accused fled Jharkhand and police have launched a massive hunt to apprehend them," Additional Superintendent of Police (Kiriburu) Tauqir Alam added.