DEVENDER HAD RETIRED AS NAIK FROM THE ARMY ON OCTOBER 31 LAST YEAR

Accused Devender Singh, 38, a resident of Hisar, reached his in-laws’ house at about 1pm and first opened fire on his wife Sunita Rani, who had come to her maternal house last month after he allegedly harassed her for not giving his family the money demanded as dowry.

Sunita managed to flee the spot and took shelter at a neighbour’s house. Devender then fired at her mother Manapati Devi (55) and the latter’s sister-in-law Kaila Devi. The two women received serious bullet injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead.

The accused later surrendered before the police. The cops recovered a .32 bore pistol from his possession, besides fired bullet shells from the spot.

The accused told that he used his licensed weapon in the crime. Devender had retired as Naik from the Indian Army on October 31 last year.

After the incident, Fatehabad superintendent of police (SP) Deepak Saharan, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jagdish Kajal and Bhuna SHO Ramesh Kumar reached the spot.

Accused’s wife Sunita told the police that she got married to Surender in 2008 and had given his family adequate dowry as per her parents’ resources. Later when Devender’s brother Vinay Kumar got married in 2014, their family got Rs 18 lakh as dowry. Since then, Devender’s family started demanding Rs 14 lakh from her family members, Sunita alleged.

She also alleged that Devender and his family members often beat her up and in such circumstances she returned to her maternal house last month.

On the other hand, sources said the accused told the police that he had come to his in-laws’ house to take his wife back home. But her relatives thrashed him after which he lost his temper.

DSP Kajal said, “The police are investigating into the matter. A case of murder has been registered against the accused.”