The Hyderabad police on Saturday, May 21, arrested four persons, including a minor, and are on lookout for two others for the murder of a 22-year-old youth over an intercaste love marriage. A day after Neeraj Panwar was hacked to death in full public view at the Begum Bazar area, the arrests were made. The police said five relatives of Sanjana, who married Neeraj last year, murdered him. The accused attacked Neeraj with knives and a boulder when he was on a bike along with his grandfather on the night of Friday, May 20. He sustained severe injuries which led to his death.
According to the police, Neeraj, a groundnut businessman in Kolsawadi Begum Bazar, fell in love with Sanjana, who was also a resident of the same area. Sanjana's family members did not accept their marriage proposal. Sanjana married Neeraj at a temple on April 13 last year against the wishes of her family. Sanjana's parents and other family members severed ties with her, but the sons of her uncles wanted to take revenge on Neeraj.
Neeraj’s family belongs to the Mali Kshatriya caste from the Marwad region in Rajasthan and his family is said to have settled in Hyderabad generations ago. Sanjana’s family belongs to the Gowali/Gowli Yadav caste from Madhya Pradesh. Although both castes are categorised as Other Backward Class (OBC), there is a social hierarchy between them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Joel Davis told reporters that the accused hatched the plan 15 days ago and bought knives from Jummerat Bazar. The accused are Abhinanadan Yadav, AK Vijay Yadav, K Sanjay Yadav, B Rohith Yadav, Mahesh Aheer Yadav, and a minor. Abhinandan Yadav and Mahesh Aheer Yadav are absconding.
Traders in Begum Bazar, a busy commercial area, downed shutters on Saturday, May 21, to demand immediate arrest and punishment to the killers. Sanjana and the family members of Neeraj also staged a sit-in at the Shahinayatgunj police station.
This was the second such murder in Hyderabad in less than a month. On May 4, a 25-year-old man was hacked to death in Saroornagar over an inter-faith marriage. Billapuram Nagaraju was murdered in public in front of his wife by her brother and another relative. Nagaraju had married Ashrin Sultana after the latter eloped with him earlier this year.