A 40-year-old man diagnosed as HIV positive was allegedly killed by his wife and in-laws in the Bhojipura tehsil of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, the Times of India reported.
The man was found dead under ‘mysterious circumstances’ at his in-laws house on Wednesday, where he had been living since he took ill a year and a half ago.
A police investigation revealed that the victim kept his illness a secret as he feared stigma, and had started undergoing counselling at an Anti-Retro Viral Therapy (ART) centre.
His wife and in-laws failed to provide a satisfactory reason behind his death and instead of alerting the police of the incident; they informed the victim’s family of his death and began preparing for the cremation.
His family, upon reaching the victim’s in-laws’ house, informed police they had noticed injury marks on the victim’s body.
A post-mortem report released on Thursday revealed that the man had been strangled to death and a case was lodged against the victim’s wife, father-in-law and two other people.
Bhojipura police station Inspector JP Yadav said, “From the statement of the victim’s family, it has become apparent that his wife and father-in-law were unable to bear the stigma of keeping an AIDS patient in their house, which perhaps may be the reason behind his murder.”
Yadav said a murder case had been lodged against the victim’s wife, father-in-law and two others but that no arrests had been made in the case yet.
