Gulf worker returns home for love, buried with partner in alleged honour killing

For nearly four years, Arman, 26, earned his living laying tiles at construction sites across the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, sending money home and planning a future beyond his village in western Uttar Pradesh. He returned to India a few months ago because of a relationship. That decision proved fatal, his family said.

Arman was brutally killed along with his partner Kajal Saini in Moradabad district, and the two were later found buried in a single grave by a riverbank, in what the local media has described as a case of honour killing — violence driven by opposition to interfaith or other relationships considered socially or religiously unacceptable.

Some local media reports had incorrectly stated that Arman worked in Dubai. His cousin Irfan told Khaleej Times over the phone on Thursday that Arman had been working in Medina.

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“He was a sweet-natured boy who minded his own business. We are shattered,” Irfan said.

Speaking to local media, Satpal Antil, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Moradabad, said Arman, a Muslim man, had been in a relationship for nearly two years with Kajal, a Hindu woman who lived in the same village, just one house away. The two families were neighbours.

Police said the relationship had developed over nearly two years and continued while Arman was working in Saudi Arabia, largely through phone contact. After his return to India, the two began meeting in person, investigators said.

Police said Kajal's family strongly opposed the relationship. The killings reportedly took place late on a Sunday night.

Citing police accounts and confessions recorded so far, local media said Kajal’s brothers allegedly caught the couple together at her home. Two of them are accused of pinning Arman down by his arms and legs, while another allegedly attacked him repeatedly with a sharp weapon, killing him. Kajal was then also attacked and killed, police said, allegedly by her own brothers.

Arman’s elder brother Ali Waris told Khaleej Times that the family had no knowledge of his relationship.

After the killings, the accused allegedly transported the bodies in a car to the banks of the Gagan river, where they dug a pit and buried both victims in the same grave.

The crime came to light after Arman went missing and his family repeatedly approached the police. "We looked for him everywhere," said Irfan. 

Following the intervention of senior officers, Kajal’s father and three of her brothers were arrested, Moradabad police said. The arrested accused have reportedly been charged with murder and destruction of evidence. 

During interrogation, police said, the accused allegedly confessed to the crime and led investigators to the burial site, where both bodies were recovered. A shovel believed to have been used in the killings was also seized. Officials said Kajal was employed as a teacher at a private school in the village.

Given the sensitive nature of the case and the village’s mixed religious population, additional police forces have been deployed to maintain law and order. Police said post-mortem examinations were conducted by a panel of doctors under video recording. They added the situation in the village remains tense but under control.