Kuki-Meitei love story turns sour, woman’s kin say partner called her dad to witness murder

NEW DELHI: Three years ago in Manipur, a Kuki woman and a Meitei man fell in love and decided to build a life together in Delhi. They settled in Munirka. She worked as a beautician, and he ran a small grocery store.

However, a year-and-a-half later, their bliss gave way to frequent quarrels over domestic and financial issues. The simmering tension finally spiralled into a tragedy on Oct 12. Police found the 26-year-old woman brutally murdered and her 30-year-old live-in partner, who allegedly attacked her, lying critically injured in their rented flat in the city. Shocked family members of the woman, Thempi Khongsai, alleged on Tuesday that her partner, Thangjam Viney Meitei made a videocall to her father so that he could witness his daughter's murder.

Meitei told him that he would kill himself too, police said.

Khongsai's family allegedly opposed their relationship because the couple belonged to different communities, cops claimed. This caused the ties between her and her family to gradually fray. The couple's relationship strained owing to frequent quarrels over minor issues. "The woman also expressed her desire to return to her native place in Manipur on several occasions but could not do so.

As she was not in regular contact with her family, her relatives were unaware of the full extent of the difficulties she had been facing in Delhi. It appears that the tension between the couple also sparked domestic violence, culminating in this incident," a senior police officer said.

Last Sunday, the couple reportedly had another altercation. After Khongsai's father received the video call from her partner, he immediately contacted their landlady, who then asked her daughter to call up the police.

When cops reached the flat in Munirka, they found the main door locked from inside. They knocked on it several times, but there was no response. When the cops broke open the door, they found the two slumped unconscious in a pool of blood in the bathroom.

A knife was lying nearby. "The woman had a deep cut on her neck and multiple other stab wounds," police said. The autopsy report suggested that apart from a fatal neck injury, the woman was also stabbed in the lungs, which caused her to lose unconscious before her throat was completely slit. The nature of these injuries indicates that he attacked her with extreme brutality and with an intent to kill. Khongsai's body was handed over to her sister to be flown Manipur, where the final rites will be performed. A candlelight vigil in her memory was held in Munirka on Tuesday.