Around 1am on Thursday, four men barged into houses of migrant labourers working at two fish farms on village outskirts, held them hostage at gunpoint before killing a woman and raping three others besides fleeing with ₹18,000, a mobile phone and ornaments
The 45-year-old ailing wife of a migrant labourer was killed and three other women members of two families were raped when armed men targeted two fish farms on the outskirts of a village under Matlauda police station in Panipat district early on Thursday.
Police said the victims belonged to two families that worked at the fish farms of local farmers. The victims told the police that around 1am, four men carrying weapons barged into the first dera or farm house and targeted the couple.
They allegedly thrashed them, hit the woman on the chest and took away their mobile phone and ₹5,000.
“The accused were speaking Haryanvi and were carrying a pistol and a sword. They slapped me and hit my wife. She died few hours later”, alleged one of the victims.
The accused then allegedly hit another farm. According to the victims, they tied the hands of the male members and children and took the women into a room and raped them repeatedly, before robbing the house. They also thrashed a woman who resisted. The robbers locked the women in a room and fled with ₹13,000 and ornaments.