[An Nahar] A man was beheaded and his girlfriend beaten to death in an "honor killing" in northern India after they eloped, police said Thursday.The woman's mother, father and uncle were arrested after the gruesome murders carried out in a village in the state of Haryana on Wednesday, police said.
The couple were tracked down and brought back to their village in Rohtak district after they fled to the capital New Delhi, local police chief Anil Kumar said.
The woman, 20, was allegedly beaten to death and then relatives, angry about their decision to leave, turned on her 22-year-old boyfriend, attacking him with sticks, Inspector-General Kumar told AFP.
"While murdering the boy they also beheaded him," Kumar said.
The family had tried to burn the woman's body but were stopped by police, Kumar told AFP by telephone.
The pair had been in a relationship for three years. The woman was studying to be an art teacher while her boyfriend was also a student at a local college, Kumar said.
"We have arrested her father, mother and uncle and we are looking for her brother, a friend and driver of the car in which the couple were brought back to her home in Gharnavati village," the police chief said.
"Both belonged to the same village and the same caste.
"It is an honor killing but the murder was not approved by society."