Medininagar (Jharkhand), Jan 25 (PTI) The death of a teenage girl about three weeks ago in Jharkhand's Palamu district, which was initially thought to be suicide has now turned into a case of honour killing, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

Following the arrest of the brother and another relative of the victim, it was revealed that the 17-year-old girl was killed over a love affair which was not liked by her family members, the officer said.

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The girl was found hanging from a tree in her village Khandaar on January 5 within the jurisdiction of Naudiha Bazar police station and her mother had informed the police that her daughter had died by suicide.

Palamu Superintendent of Police Reeshma Ramesan on Thursday said that in the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the incident was not a case of suicide but honour killing.

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The post-mortem examination report of the girl's body confirmed that the death was due to strangulation.

Ramesan said that the girl's four brothers and her 19-year-old brother-in-law had gagged her mouth and nose before strangling her to death. They hanged the body from a tree to give it a shape of suicide.

The main accused - the victim's brother-in-law Sudu Bhuiyan and brother Guddu Bhuiyan – were arrested, she said.

The other three accused were reported at large.

During the investigation, the police found that the girl had an affair with a youth from a nearby village.

The youth had taken the victim to a place on January 3 and then dropped her back around 2.30 am on January 4. The girl who had entered home clandestinely at that time was found hanging the next day.

It was claimed that the victim's brother and brother-in-law were being humiliated in the neighbourhood over the love affair of the girl.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)