The Hindu : Sport : Journalist murder case takes a new turn

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Saturday, May 08, 2010
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Journalist murder case takes a new turn

Koderma (Jharkhand): A court here on Friday directed the police to file a case of rape and abetment to suicide against the young journalist boyfriend of 22-year-old Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak, an alleged victim of “honour killing”, following charges levelled by her mother who was arrested earlier this week.

Taking cognisance of Subha Pathak's petition, Chief Judicial Magistrate N. K. Agarwal asked the Tilaya Police to file the FIR under Indian Penal Code Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 420 (cheating) against Priyabhanshu Ranjan. All the sections are non-bailable.

The court also allowed a petition by the police to take Subha into police remand from judicial custody for three days from May 9.

Young Nirupama, who was working for Business Standard in Delhi, was found dead on April 29 at her parents' residence in Tilaya in Koderma district under mysterious circumstances. Her mother claimed that it was a case of suicide.

However, the post-mortem report revealed that Nirupama died of asphyxia as a result of smothering. A 10 to 12-week-old foetus was also found during the autopsy.

Suspecting the death to be a case of “honour killing”, the police had arrested Subha. Nirupama and Ranjan were planning to get married but her parents did not approve of the match because of his caste. The two were batch mates from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi.

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