A woman was found dead at her home in Noida just a day after she married her boyfriend against her family’s wishes. She was strangled by her father and brother, who cremated her body soon after to conceal the evidence.

Neha Rathore was in a relationship with Devendra Singh, who is from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh. Her family was against it as they belonged to different communities. The 23-year-old’s father – a resident of Chipiyana Buzurg in the Bisrakh police station area of Noida Central – even prohibited her from meeting Mr Singh.

However, defying their wishes, the young couple got married at an Arya Samaj temple in Ghaziabad on March 11. When her father, Bhanu Rathore, got to know about the wedding, he hatched a sinister plan.

He persuaded her to return home, saying he would arrange a proper wedding for her. Her fault was that she believed him. The next day, along with his son Himanshu, he killed her.

“The case was cracked three hours after we received information about the woman’s suspicious death,” said Shakti Mohan Awasthi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida Central.

The woman’s father and brother have been arrested on charges of murder and destroying evidence by cremating the body.

“Neha was killed by her father and brother, who were upset about her wedding,” Mr Awasthi said.

“The crime scene has been inspected by the field unit, CCTV cameras are being checked and evidence is being collected,” he added.

– With inputs from Arvind Uttam.