A teenager, along with a 24-year-old man, allegedly killed her sister-in-law after she came to know about their affair, police said on Wednesday.
Within hours of the murder on Tuesday evening, the police arrested the man, Raju Prajapat, and took the other accused, a minor girl who is a few months short of her 18th birthday, in custody. The victim was also 18.
Punam, who was a Class 12 student, was found dead with her throat slit by her brother at their home in Kota's Jhalawar, the police said.
According to the police, the accused -- the minor girl and Raju Prajapat -- belonged to the same village and were in a relationship. The girl got married to Punam's brother in November last year but continued her relationship with Raju, who would often pay her a visit here, they said.
After Punam found out about their affair, the accused minor girl was scared that she would inform her in-laws about it and, therefore, she and Raju conspired to kill her sister-in-law, Kota’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Amrita Duhan said.
On Tuesday afternoon, when the accused minor was alone at home with her sister-in-law, she called Raju and they killed Punam while she was taking a nap in her room, SP Duhan said.
The duo closed the victim's mouth to suppress her screams and slit her throat with a knife killing her on the spot, the SP added.
Duhan said the murder came to light at around 4.30 pm on Tuesday when the victim's brother reached home and found her murdered in her room while his wife (the accused minor girl) was sleeping in another room.
Punam was engaged to a boy in her village in Jhalawar and was going to get married soon, the police said.
The accused minor girl tried to mislead the police with different narratives but later admitted to the crime, SP Duhan said, adding that Raju has been arrested from his village on Wednesday.
Further investigations into the matter are underway, the SP said.
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