A woman and her daughter, identified as Mithlesh (50) and Mukesh (18), were found dead under suspicious circumstances in village Hariyakheda of Muzaffarnagar Budhana.

As per reports, Vijaypal, a resident of Hariyakheda village of Kotwali area, works as a labourer. On Tuesday night, Vijaypal and his elder daughter, Babli, were sleeping in separate rooms, while his wife Mithlesh (50) and younger daughter, Mukesh (18) were sleeping on a cot in the verandah.

Vijaypal said that he heard a banging sound in the night and saw a monkey throwing objects. His wife also woke up, and together they scared away the monkeys before going back to sleep.

On Wednesday morning, when his neighbour called him to go to the fields, he discovered that his wife and daughter were still lying on the cot. When he attempted to wake them up, he found them dead. He started screaming, prompting other family members and neighbours to gather at the spot.

Vijaypal informed the local police after which the bodies were sent for the post-mortem. Inspector Anand Dev Mishra said that the post-mortem report pointed that both were strangled to death. He claimed to have detained three local residents on the suspicion of their involvement in the killing.

The cops said that they were probably killed as the suspects were trying to lure Mukesh and probably on Monday night, they tried to kidnap her and facing opposition, they strangulated both and fled. Further investigations are on.

Meanwhile, in Meerut, a couple facing opposition to their relationship from their families performed a wedding ritual before committing suicide on Sunday, police said on Wednesday.

The bodies of Rakhi Chauhan (21) of Budhanagar and Manish Chauhan (24) of Haridwar were found hanging from a tree in the Bahsuma police station area of Meerut on Monday.

According to initial investigations, Rakhi and Manish were in love with each other but faced opposition from their families, Station House Officer Santosh Kumar said. The post-mortem report confirmed death by suffocation due to hanging, indicating that both succumbed almost simultaneously, Kumar added. The families cremated their bodies.

A similar incident was reported on the same day in the Jani police station area of Meerut, in which a 20-year-old woman jumped into a canal with a man. While locals rescued the woman, divers were still searching for the man, senior police officer Rohit Singh Sajwan said.

Meanwhile, an elderly man in Muzaffarnagar allegedly killed his wife by slitting her throat in order to implicate his nephews in the murder case. On information, the Muzaffarnagar police registered a case of murder against the accused and arrested him on Wednesday.