A tragic case of domestic violence has come to light from Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district. Here, a 25-year-old widow and mother of three was shot dead by her father-in-law. This comes after she allegedly refused to re-marry a relative.

The accused, who is identified as Gyan Singh Gurjar (65) is the father-in-law of the victim. The accused is currently on the run, police confirmed on Thursday.

Bullets fired straight into chest

Priyanka Gurjar, the victim, was attacked around 10 PM on Wednesday . The attack occurred at their residence near Sikroda canal in the Civil Lines area. This area is about 8 km from Morena’s district headquarters. According to police, Gyan Singh fired three rounds from a country-made 315 bore pistol. Two bullets struck Priyanka in the chest, killing her on the spot. Out of the three one bullet missed and hit a nearby wall.

According to reports, Priyanka had returned to her in-laws’ house just four days prior to the incident. She returned to her in-laws house after spending over a year at her maternal home following the death of her husband, Ajay Gurjar. The victim’s husband Ajay Gurjar died on June 9, 2024. Priyanka was living with her three children, aged seven, five, and three.

Murder case registered

Darshan Lal Shukla the Civil Lines police station in-charge confirmed that a murder case has been registered. “The accused has been charged with murder and investigations are underway,” Shukla said. He also informed that a manhunt has been launched to trace the accused.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the motive stemmed from Gyan Singh’s insistence. He insisted that Priyanka should remarry within the family. Specifically, to his elder brother’s son, Dhruv.

Priyanka’s brother, Mukesh, alleged that his sister had repeatedly refused to re-marry after the death of her husband. “My sister refused because she already had three children. This led to frequent quarrels between them,” Mukesh alleged. She cited her responsibilities toward her three young children. The proposal had reportedly caused ongoing disputes within the household.

Locals describe accused as volatile man

The police following the incident conducted an inspection and questioning nearby. The Locals described Gyan Singh as a volatile man troubled by personal tragedies. Once an Army serviceman, Singh had to leave the force early and did not qualify for a pension. The locals also informed that he had also sold his farmland for financial survival.

In the past 18 months, he lost both his sons. One allegedly beaten to death and the other believed to have died by suicide. These troubling incidents in his life lead to further emotional strain.

How did the incident come to light?

According to reports, Dhruv, who lives nearby, was the first person to respond after hearing the gunfire. He is said to have alerted neighbours. Neighbours heard him shouting that his uncle had killed Priyanka. “Uncle killed the daughter-in-law!” he shouted.

The officials collected Priyanka’s body from the scene and a post-mortem was conducted Thursday. Priyanka is survived by her three children a seven-year-old daughter and two sons aged 5 and 3, according to police.