Just days after a couple from Hosur was killed over opposition to their inter-caste marriage, a 25-year-old cab driver Harish Muninarayanappa has been killed in Devanahalli in Bengaluru Rural district, allegedly for the same reason. Harish was allegedly stabbed to death by his brother-in-law Vinay, on Tuesday night.

Channarayapatna police arrested Vinay based on a complaint by Muninarayanappa, father of the victim. Even though Vinay has told the police officials that financial disagreements led to a fight between the two, they suspect that Harish was killed because he married Vinay's sister Meenakshi, a person from an upper caste.

Harish, who belongs to the Nayaka community (a scheduled caste), had married his classmate Meenakshi, who belongs to the Thigala community, eight months ago, in spite of objections raised by Meenakshi's family.

A police official at Channarayapatna told TNM, “Harish and Meenakshi went to college in Devanahalli, where they fell in love and later got married. This led to disagreements between Harish and Vinay, Meenakshi’s brother. On Tuesday, Harish did not return home in the night. Later, his body was found on the outskirts of Nallur on Wednesday morning.”

Harish and Meenakshi married each other in March. According to Muninarayanappa’s complaint, Vinay, who is unemployed, had issued death threats to Harish around the time of their marriage. He had opposed their marriage. 

Police have taken Vinay into custody and are also investigating Meenakshi’s second brother Naveen Kumar and his role in the killing. According to the police, Vinay claims to have killed Harish in an act of self-defence after a dispute erupted between the two over financial reasons