A wedding celebration came to an abrupt end in Bhopal when a man shot dead the bride, his first cousin, on the stage when the newly married couple was posing for photographs with guests late on Thursday.
Anurag Singh, 31, shot Jayshree Namdeo, 26, from very close range and appeared to turn the pistol towards himself when relatives overpowered him and thrashed him at Sundervan Marriage Garden in the Lalghati locality around 11.15 pm. One more shot was fired in the melee and a guest was injured.
Anurag, who was nearly lynched and had to be hospitalised, told the police that he loved Jayshree, a doctor posted in the children?s ward of the Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal, and could not bear to see her getting married to another man.
Jayshree got engaged to Rohit Namdeo, a post-graduate student of surgery in the same college, on February 3. Anurag said he had warned Rohit not to marry his love interest after the couple changed their relationship status on their Facebook pages, and decided to kill her when he saw the engagement photograph.
Jayshree and Anurag went to the same coaching institute in Bhopal a few years ago when, he told the police, he fell in love with her. In a Facebook post immediately after her engagement he talked about taking his life. A frequent Facebook user, he also posted photographs posing with a rifle.
He recently changed the cover photo of his account to the words ?JUST WAIT AND WATCH? in red background.
Jayshree?s father said he had not invited his sister?s family to the wedding when he learnt that his nephew was against it. ?We never thought he would go that far,? her father Ghanashyam said on Friday.
Anurag was not stopped from entering the marriage venue because he was known to be a relative. He had carried a country-made pistol from Gadhakota, Sagar, and waited near the stage for an hour or so before getting close to his target. Jayshree was rushed to a nearby private hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
Anurag was bleeding severely and lying on the ground near the stage when the police arrived and took him away. SP Arvind Saxena said Anurag had come well-prepared and did not repent killing his cousin saying that?s all he wanted to do after she refused to marry him.
Jayshree?s father Ghanashyam retired as a supervisor from Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company. Anurag is the son of his younger sister.
Anurag lost his father some time ago and earned a modest salary as a supervisor with a private bank he joined in October 2012. Ghanashyam reportedly helped Anurag after his father?s death. Anurag had stayed in Ghanashyam?s house five years ago.
Besides his gender and date of birth, the only basic information Anurag provided on his Facebook account was: ?Interested in.. women.?
