Teen found dead at Delhi showroom, family blames brother-in-law

New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly found dead in a changing room of a showroom here, police said on Sunday.

The victim's father blamed the teenager's brother-in-law for the alleged murder and demanded strict punishment for the accused.

The incident was reported at a clothing store in the Moti Nagar area on Saturday evening.

While the accused is on the run, the police have started a probe and begun questioning his family members.

The teenager, identified as Shabnam, was an employee at the store and had been working there for the past three months.

Speaking to IANS, the victim's father said: "We found out at 9 at night that our daughter had been killed in the shop."

"Suraj killed her; he is our daughter's 'devar' (husband's brother)...I was in my village when I received the news and immediately left for Delhi," he said.

Seeking justice for his daughter, he said: "All those involved must be punished."

He mentioned that a major argument had taken place at the girl's marital home about one and a half years ago, which had escalated to an extent that a case was filed and a hearing was scheduled at the Tis Hazari courts.

Further, the girl's father also blamed her mother-in-law, saying: "During the argument earlier, she had said that instead of slapping (my daughter), she should be killed."

Meanwhile, store employee Anshu said that the girl had gone missing from the store in the evening.

Speaking to IANS, she said: "We saw the girl sitting there at around 6.45 p.m. At around 7.30–7.45 p.m., the shop owner called and asked me to pull down the shutter of his shop as it was empty, and Shabnam was not around.

"We closed their shop at around 8 p.m., but at 8.30 p.m., some of the workers informed me that the girl was not seen leaving the shop in the CCTV footage and that she might still be inside the store," Anshu said.

"We noticed that blood was oozing out from the door of the trial room, which was locked from outside. We immediately called the police and her parents and told them to come quickly. The police reached the spot within 10 minutes and upon opening the room, she was found dead."

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