Hazaribagh, Oct. 18: A pregnant woman has paid with her life as well as her unborn child?s for marrying outside her community 10 years ago.

The person who decided to teach the woman a lesson was none other than her brother.

Around midnight on Sunday, Birbal Yadav and his aides allegedly stabbed his pregnant sister so viciously that her unborn baby sustained severe injuries on the head, chest and abdomen.

They did not spare her husband Deepak Prajapati also. Fortunate to be alive, he ended up with multiple fractures in both legs and an arm.

Bindu succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Prajapati, a resident of Naya Khap in Mukundganj and a contractor, fell in love with the woman and married her in Hazaribagh court about 10 years ago.

However, said Prajapati, Yadav started to threaten them after they returned to Mukundganj. The panchayat also deliberated on the matter but failed to find a ?solution?. On August 25, 2002, Yadav had threatened the couple of dire consequences if they continued with the relationship, Prajapati alleged.

Yadav was back to teach the couple a lesson around midnight on Sunday. They knocked on the door furiously, which forced Prajapati to open it. Twelve men armed with traditional weapons entered the house and started to thrash Prajapati with iron rods.

When the woman tried to intervene, the men started assaulting her as well. Prajapati lay unconscious as the men dragged Bindu to a cement factory where Yadav worked as a daily-wage labourer. However, they spared the couple?s two sons ? Pammu (8) and Pappu (6).

The men then stripped Bindu and assaulted her for hours before running away. The following morning, some of Prajapati?s relatives found the woman behind the factory. They rushed the couple to the subdivisional hospital where Bindu succumbed to her injuries.

The two young boys said they saw Yadav and the other men beat up their parents. Yadav even threatened them to remain silent, they alleged.

Advocate Veena Sethi said she had intervened in the matter and even managed to make the relatives of the couple arrive at some sort of an understanding.

According to Prajapati, there are many criminals in his locality who mostly indulge in robberies on the Ranchi-Patna highway. But, he alleged, police do not take action against villagers with criminal antecedents.

However, the officer-in-charge of Mukundganj police station, Satish Chandra Jha, refuted the allegation and said an FIR has been lodged against the accused on the basis of Prajapati?s statement. The police are conducting raids in the adjoining areas to arrest the accused, Jha said.