Woman killed, Minister's relative held

A 22-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death by her in-laws in South 24 Parganas district today and police arrested four persons, including the victim's father-in-law, who is a relative of a Minister.
Home-maker Ajifa Bibi's body was found hanging at her in-laws' place at Rajarhat Chakjaidi village this afternoon but her father claimed that her in-laws have murdered her and tried to pass it off as suicide, police said.
A section of people in the village under Ushti police station ransacked the house following the incident and engaged in a skirmish with the police.
The incident came to light when Ajifa Bibi's father-in-law Ishrafil Sheikh rang up her father Wahed Ali to say she had committed suicide.

Ali came with others, saw the hanging body, and lodged an FIR saying her daughter was actually beaten to death by her in-laws as their demand for money was not met, police said.
A section of villagers corroborated this version and ransacked Ishrafil's house besides setting fire to it. Angry villagers also pelted stones at the police injuring one policeman. A police vehicle was also damaged during the clash.

Police said they had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the villagers before sending the body for post-mortem and arresting the victim's husband Imran, father-in-law Ishrafil, mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Ishrafil is a cousin of Minister of State for Minorities Affairs and Madrasah Education, Giyasuddin Molla.

Molla said he was in Kolkata during the incident but heard about the incident.
He said he had asked the police to take action according to law.
Imran had married Ajifa three years ago and has a two-year-old son.