Ballia woman's death Cops say suicide prompted by boyfriend blocking her number kin allege murder

Ballia(UP), Mar 28 (PTI) The 20-year-old woman who was found hanging from a tree here with her hands tied behind her back died by suicide after watching a YouTube video after her boyfriend blocked her number as her wedding was fixed with another man, police claimed on Friday, even as her family alleged murder.    
    Superintendent of Police (SP) Omveer Singh said the girl killed herself after watching a YouTube video.
    "She was distressed after her boyfriend blocked her mobile number while her marriage with another man was scheduled for April 25," he said.
    The woman was found hanging six feet above the ground from a jamun tree in a village in the Nagra area, with her hands tied behind her back, the police had said.
    Singh said that the woman had watched a video on how to commit suicide on YouTube before killing herself.
    Post-mortem findings, electronic evidence including call recordings, and physical evidence, support the suicide theory, he further claimed.
    “Technical evidence does not strongly implicate those initially suspected. So far, all findings point towards suicide, though the investigation is still ongoing,” SP Singh added.
    However, the woman’s brother rejected the police's claim, alleging she was brutalized and murdered by four people from her village before being hanged from the tree.
    Meanwhile, a 12-member delegation from the Samajwadi Party (SP) Mahila Sabha, led by district president Kanchan Bharti, met the victim’s family and demanded justice.
    The SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Uttar Pradesh Congress criticized the Yogi Adityanath government over the incident, alleging a failure to protect women.
    Police have registered a case against four people from the woman’s village based on the complaint lodged by her family, which initially alleged murder.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)