Man kills girlfriend after her family opposes their marriage, injured in encounter

A 19-year-old woman was shot dead by her boyfriend in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi after her family objected to her relationship with him and arranged her marriage elsewhere. The accused, identified as Kamal Raikwar, was later injured and arrested in a police encounter within five hours after the murder, police said.The incident occurred on Wednesday when Kamal entered the home of the victim, Chanchal Raikwar, and shot her dead before fleeing the spot. Chanchal's family had opposed her relationship with Kamal and had arranged her marriage elsewhere, police said. Kamal became enraged after learning about the wedding preparations and went to her house, where he shot her.During questioning, Kamal told police that he had been in a relationship with Chanchal for around four years and that the two had planned to marry. However, her family came to know about their relationship and opposed it. When he later learnt that her family had arranged her marriage elsewhere, he became angry and decided to kill her, police said.Kamal also told investigators that he wanted to die by suicide after killing Chanchal. However, on seeing her lying in a pool of blood, he became frightened and fled instead, according to police. Following the murder, four police teams were formed to trace the accused. Police later received information that Kamal was present near the Jhansi-Shivpuri highway and launched a search operation, City Superintendent of Police (SP) Preeti Singh said.When police spotted him, Kamal tried to flee and opened fire when officers attempted to stop him. Police returned fire in self-defence, hitting him in the leg, following which he was arrested and taken to a medical college in a critical condition. Police recovered the pistol which Kamal used to kill Chanchal. SP Singh said the police received information about the shooting from Chanchal's family and immediately deployed four teams to catch the accused. "Kamal was arrested following an exchange of fire on the highway approximately five hours after the murder," she said.Police are conducting further investigation into the murder and the circumstances surrounding the encounter.- Ends(with inputs from Pramod Kumar Gautam)