Young lovers end life in Agra

AGRA - Even as the world got ready to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day, a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl ended their lives in the city of the Taj following objections from their families to their relationship.

While the boy, 19-year-old Sonu shot himself, Faujiya alias Shilpi hanged herself, but her family members have spirited away her body and are themselves on the run, according to police.

Sonu shot himself with his pistol around 8.30 p.m. Friday after a brief chat with someone on his mobile phone, a police official said Saturday.

The shocked shopkeepers and bystanders at the Paschimpuri crossing, where the shooting took place, rushed Sonu to a hospital, but he was declared brought dead, said the police official.

Earlier in the day, Faujiya alias Shilpi, the girl Sonu loved, hanged herself by a rope at her home, neighbours told police. According to some neighbours, she also swallowed poison to end her life.

Surya Kant Dwedi, head of Sikandra police station, said the family members of the girl, including her father Chand, have taken away the body and were on the run.

He said the police were looking for them and details of how Faujiya dead would be known only after her body was found.

Sonu, in his suicide note, referred to his love for Faujiya. He said she too loved him, but her family was opposed to their relationship and had threatened him, the police official said.

The teenager also said in his note that his family members were beaten up and and threatened with dire consequences if the young couple’s love affair continued, the official added.

Police said some relatives of the girl have been questioned.

According to some neighbours, the girl was taken to a private nursing home where she collapsed and the family did not return home from there.