Man found dead in cotton field in Karimnagar

In a suspected honour killing, a 23-year-old man was found dead in a cotton field on the outskirts of Vankayagudem village in Karimnagar district Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Gaddi Kumar of Tadikal village, police said. Huzurabad Assistant Commissioner of Police T.Krupakar said the parents of Kumar had filed a complaint Monday stating that he was missing.

The parents alleged that he was in love with a minor girl belonging to another caste in the same village. They suspect that the girl's parents had killed him. Police had earlier registered a case against Kumar under IPC section 354 D (stalking) on a complaint from the girl's parents.

The deceased had reportedly picked up the girl from her college at Huzurabad and sent her back to her house, recently. "No visible injuries were found on the body and the cause of death will be known only after an autopsy," Krupakar said.

Villagers staged a protest and allegedly broke the windshields of some police vehicles.

A tight vigil is being maintained in the area, police said. In an incident suspected to be honour killing, a Dalit Christian man was allegedly killed in Nalgonda district in September and police had arrested seven people including his father-in-law, who was opposed to the marriage.

In another incident last month, a 25-year-old man died after setting himself ablaze, accusing his in-laws of separating him from his wife in view of their inter-caste marriage.