Kanpur couple's court marriage ends in murder-suicide, husband applies vermilion before hanging

Police found a young couple dead in a locked rented room in Kanpur, with the husband having strangled his wife, smeared vermilion in her hair, and then hung himself.

Authorities in Kanpur’s Barra 7 neighbourhood uncovered the corpses of a young couple who had entered a court marriage without their families’ blessing. The 23-year-old Saurabh Savita was found hanging from a rope, while his 20-year-old wife Shalini, also known as Rani, lay dead on a mat, showing strangulation marks consistent with a cloth. Police say Saurabh used a dupatta to kill Shalini, then applied vermilion to the parting of her hair before committing suicide.

A box of sindoor and scattered powder were recovered from the scene, and forensic analysis confirmed the presence of the pigment on both victims’ bodies and the husband’s hands and feet. The cousins had been in a relationship for three years, faced repeated family disputes, and formalised their marriage four months ago before moving briefly to Delhi and later renting the second-floor room. Investigators are reviewing phone records and social-media activity to determine the cause of the tragedy.