Madhya Pradesh: Ex-Army man shoots widowed daughter-in-law dead after she refuses to re-marry

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An ex-Army man allegedly shot dead his widowed daughter-in-law in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh after she turned down his demand to remarry within the family, her kin and police said on Thursday.

The accused, Gyan Singh Gurjar (65), is on the run after fatally shooting his daughter-in-law Priyanka (38), who lost her husband a year ago, with a country-made firearm at around 10 pm on Wednesday, Civil Lines police station in-charge Darshan Lal Shukla told PTI.

The firing took place near Sikroda canal in the Civil Lines police station area, about 8km from the Morena district headquarters, and the victim died on the spot, he said.

"The accused has been charged with murder and investigations are underway," Shukla said.

After the death of her husband, the woman had been living at her maternal home along with her three kids. However, she returned to her in-laws' residence four days ago, police said.

According to the victim's brother Mukesh, Priyanka's father-in-law Gurjar was mounting pressure on her to remarry his elder brother's son, Dhruv, a proposal which was not acceptable to her.

"My sister refused because she already had three children. This led to frequent quarrels between them," Mukesh alleged.

Police officer Shukla said they were investigating Mukesh's allegation that his sister was killed because she refused to remarry within the family.

The accused had lost both his sons in the past 18 months. Priyanka's husband, Ajay Gurjar, died on June 9 and the couple has three children -- a seven-year-old daughter and two sons aged 5 and 3, according to police.